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HISTORY NOTES 



FOR THE 



SEVENTH GRADE 

Revised i 9 1 5 




BY 

ROBERT j> Mclaughlin, a. :sl 

Welsh-West School, Philadelphia 



Walther Print, Third St. and Girard Ave, 
PHILADELPHIA 






Copyright, 1915, by Robert J. McLaughlin 
Published November, 1915 



6 



©CI,A416462 

NOV 16 ISIS 

-2^ 7 



History Notes for the Seventh Grade 



Note. — Review the following from "Sixth Grade History 
Notes":— 

The Causes of the Revolution ; the Second Continental Congress ; the 
Declaration of Independence; the alliance with France; the treaty of 
peace; the Articles cf Confederation; the events leading to the adop- 
tion of the Constitution; the adoption of the Constitution; the Ordi- 
nance of 1787; the state of the country and the extent of the territory 
occupied; finances under Washington's administration; the purchase 
of Louisiana; the exploration of the Oregon country; the influence of 
the Democratic spirit; causes and results of the War of 1812; the 
Missouri Compromise; the Monroe Doctrine; the Tariff question; the 
growth of sectional feeling; inventions and improvements, with their 
effects (the steamboat, the Erie Canal, the railroad, the telegraph, 
the McCormick reaper, the screw propeller). 

Polk's Administration (1845 — 1849). 

I. James K. Polk, of Tennessee, was elected president 
by the Democratic party, serving from 1845 to 1849. 

Note. — In the election of 1844, Henry Clay was the Whig candi- 
date, and for the third time this popular orator failed to win the 
presidency. Polk was able and industrious, but narrow in his views. 
In his cabinet, James Buchanan was Secretary of State, and George 
Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy. 

2. The War with Mexico. 

There were two causes of the Mexican War: 

First, the United States had admitted Texas into the 
Union, although its independence had never been acknowl- 
edged by Mexico, from whom it had revolted. 

Second, both the United States and Mexico claimed the 
land lying between the Eio Grande and the Nueces River. 
When General Taylor occupied this disputed territory, 
war broke out. 

Note. — Texas stretched from the Rio Grande on the west to the 
Sabine Kiver on the east, and from the Gulf of Mexico on the souths 
to the Rod River and the Arkansas River on the north. 



Polk did not really want war, but lie did want California, which 
he thought Mexico would sell to the United States. Hoping that the 
banished Santa Anna would sell us California if restored to x^ower, 
Polk brought him back to Mexico from Havana in a war vessel. 

Santa Anna regained power and urged war against the United 
States on account of Texas. 



Taylor's Campaign. 

The object of General Taylor's campaign was to hold the 
disputed territory and invade northern Mexico. All the 
battles of Taylor's campaign were fought in 1846, except 
the last battle, which was fought early in 1847. A few days 
before Congress declared war, Taylor fought two battles in 
the disputed territory, at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, 
in both of which he defeated General Arista, the Mexican 
commander. Shortly afterwards he crossed the Rio Grande ; 
and after a severe battle, he captured the city of Monterey, 
in the northeastern part of Mexico. Taylor was now ordered 
to send a large part of his troops to aid General Scott. Santa 
Anna learned this fact and attacked him with an army 
four times as great as Taylor's, at Buena Yista, in the 
northeastern part of Mexico; but Taylor defeated him 
(1847). The result of Taj^lor's campaign was to hold the 
disputed territory and northeastern Mexico. 

Note. — At Buena Vista (February 23, 1847), Santa Anna nad 
18,000 men and Taylor 5,000, the battle lasting all day. At one part 
of the battle, Lieutenant Crittenden was sent to demand the surrender 
of part of the Mexican army. The commander of this section sent him 
to Santa Anna, whereupon Crittenden demanded the surrender of the 
entire Mexican army. When told that Taylor must surrender in an 
hour or bo routed, he replied ''General Taylor never surrenders." 

At a critical moment in the battle Bragg 's artillery was ordered to 
the aid of the infantry. The first discharge of his battery caused 
the Mexicans to waver. "A little more grape. Captain Bragg," 
shouted Taylor. At the third volley, the Mexicans fled. 



Scott's Campaign. 

The object of General Winfield Scott's campaign was to 
capture Mexico, the capital. This campaign was fought 
in 1847. 

He landed at Vera Cruz, in southeastern Mexico, on the 
Gulf of Mexico, and took the city after bombarding it. 
Scott then began his march of two hundred miles toward 
the capital. At the mountain pass of Cerro Gordo, in 
southeastern ]\Iexico, Scott defeated Santa Anna. 

Marching on toward the capital, Scott defeated the IMexi- 
cans at the village of Contreras, eight miles from the capi- 
tal. That same day, the Americans defeated Santa Anna 
at the village of Churubusco, about five miles from the 
capital. Santa Anna was then granted an armistice ; but as 
the Mexicans used it only to strengthen their works, Scott 
attacked the city, and after taking the castle of Chapulte- 
pec, entered the city in triumph. The result of Scott's 
campaign was the capture of Mexico and the ending of 
the war. 

Treaty of Peace. 

The treaty of peace was signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo, 
near IMexico, the capital, in 1848 By the terms of this 
treaty, IMexico gave up all claims to Texas, and made the 
Rio Grande its western boundary JMexico also gave the 
United States the vast territory called the IMexican Cession. 

This Cession extended from the Rocky Mountains and 
the Rio Grande on the east, to the Pacific Ocean on the 
west, and from Mexico on the south to the Oreiron country 
on the north. In return, the United States gavf^ Mexico 
fifteen million dollars. 



6 

Note 1. — The Alamo (a' la mo) was originally a church at San 
Antonio, Texas. Later it was surrounded with walls and made into 
a fort. Colonel Travis occupied it in February, 1836. After a ter- 
rible siege by Santa Anna with a large force, the fort was taken by 
assault on March 6th. Of the garrison of about one hundred and 
eighty, only five Texans survived, and these Santa Anna ordered 
killed. David Crockett and Colonel Bowie were part of the brave 
garrison. 

"Eemember the Alamo" became a watchword. 

Note 2 — Sam Houston was president of Texas from 1836 to 1838 
and from 1841 to 1844. After Texas was admitted into the Union, 
he was a United States senator (1845-1859). 

Note 3. — Colonel Stephen Kearney with the little Array of the 
West left Fort Leavenworth in June, 1846. After a march of a 
thousand miles they reached Santa Fe in August. The Mexicans 
abandoned the city without resistance. Kearney with six hundred men 
then started for California. This region had, however, been conquered 
by the Americans. In June, 1846, about three hundred American set- 
tlers revolted against Mexico, adopting a flag bearing a grizzly bear. 
Commodores Sloat and Stockton commanding an American fleet, and 
Captain John Fremont, who was then exploring the West, aided the 
settlers. The towns of Monterey, Los Angeles, and San Francisco 
surrendered with little resistance, giving California to the Americans. 
Kearney arrived in California after the conquest had been made. 

Note 4. — Santa Anna was made president of Mexico in 1846. He 
commanded the Mexican army in the Mexican War. His defeat at 
Cerro Gordo left the way open for Scott's march to the capital. It 
was at this battle that he barely escaped capture, leaving behind his 
wooden leg. After Scott occupied the capital, Santa Anna resigned 
and left the country. He was again president from 1853 to 1855, 
when he was exiled. He never regained his former prominence; he 
died almost forgotten in the capital in 1876. 

Note 5. — Both Eobert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant fought in the 
Mexican War. Grant in his "Personal Memoirs" said that he con- 
sidered the Mexican War ''one of the most unjust ever waged by a 
stronger against a weaker nation." 

Note 6. — The Mormons or ''Latter-Day Saints" were founded by 
Joseph Smith, of western New York. He claimed to have received a 
revelation that in a certain hill near Palmyra, New York, he would 
find a book written on gold plates. This work he published in 1830, 
as the "Book of Mormon." He gathered followers, who moved first 
to Ohio, then to Missouri, and then to Illinois, where they built a city, 
Nauvoo, on the Mississippi River. At Nauvoo polygamy was intro- 
duced. Smith was arrested, and murdered in jail by a mob. Brig- 
ham Young, Smith 's -successor, led the people to Utah to secure peace, 
founding Salt Lake City in 1847. The state they called Deseret, 
meaning "The Land of the Honey Bee." They greatly improved 
the region by irrigation, and built up a fine city. 



3. The Tariff Question. 

A tariff is a tax or duty laid on articles imported into a 
country. It is the opposite of ' ' free trade, ' ' which imposes 
no duties at all on imports. Hamilton's plan included 
the laying of a tariff, but it was not very high. A high 
tariff; or protective tariff, is one which is intended to pro- 
tect American manufacturers by laying such a tax on im- 
ported goods as will make them more expensive than similar 
goods made here. "The American System" meant the de- 
velopment of American commerce by a protective tariff. 
This protective tariff began in 1816. In 1828, a very high 
tariff was passed. The North as a manufacturing section 
favored it, w^hile the South as an agricultural section op- 
posed it. To appease the South, the tariff of 1832 was 
passed, but it failed to allay the trouble. South Carolina 
declared the tariff "null and void," and threatened to secede 
if the duties were collected. President Jackson did not be- 
lieve a State had a right to secede. He therefore sent 
troops and ships to Charleston to enforce the Federal law, 
and South Carolina had to obey. The trouble was ended 
by Henry Clay's Compromise Tariff of 1833, which pro- 
vided for a gradual reduction of the tariff. 

The Walker Tariff of 1846 was passed in Polk's ad- 
ministration. It reduced the Whig Tariff of 1842, and it 
continued in force till 1857 when further reductions were 
made. 

From 1846 to 1861, the tariff of the United' States was a 
tariff for revenue only. A revenue tariff does not aim to 
protect home manufactures, but lays a tariff on imports, 
to raise only enough revenue to support the government. 
(See Harrison's, Cleveland's, McKinley's, Taft's, and Wil- 
son's administration.) 



4. The Northern (Oregon) Boundary Settled. 

The Oregon country was bounded on the south by Cali- 
fornia, Nevada, and Utah ; on the east it was bounded by the 
Rocky Mountains; its western boundary was the Pacific 
Ocean. 

The United States claimed Oregon because of Captain 
Gray's discovery of the Columbia River in 1792, and be- 
cause of the exploring expedition made there by Captains 
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1804- '06. Dr. Marcus 
Whitman, an American missionary, by his winter journey 
in 1842 from Oregon to Washington, D. C, roused the 
country to secure Oregon, and brought back many emi- 
grants with him. The United States claimed as boundary 
line 54° 40'; but by treaty with England in Polk's admin- 
istration (1846), the forty-ninth parallel was taken as the 
northern boundary line. 

Note.- -From the Oregon country, the States of Oregon, Washing- 
ton, and Idaho have been formed. 

5. The Wilmot Proviso. 

In 1846, David Wilmot, a member of Congress from 
Pennsylvania, proposed in Congress that slavery should 
be prohibited in territory to be acquired from Mexico. It 
was not adopted, but it greatly aroused the feeling for and 
against slavery. 

6. The Discovery of Gold. 

Gold was discovered in 1848 by James Marshall, in dig- 
ging a mill-race for a sawmill for Captain Sutter in the 
Sacramento Valley, California. As a result, population 
flocked from all over the world to California, which soon 
developed into an important State with the great seaport 



of San Francisco. Many of the emigrants turned their 
efforts to agriculture, and this soon became of more value 
to the State than gold mining. 

Note. — Those who went to California in 1849 to find gold were 
3alled the "forty-niners.^' There were three routes by which Cali- 
fornia could be reached from the East, — overland, around Cape 
Horn, and across the Isthmus of Panama. The overland route on 
horseback or in covered wagons over mountains, deserts, and swamps 
caused the death of many, unable to stand the extreme sufferings of 
this long journey. The route around Cape Horn took six or seven 
months' time. By the third route, a steamer was taken to the 
Isthmus of Panama; after an overland journey to the town of 
Panama, the adventurers were taken northward by a California 
steamer. These steamers sold their available tickets by lot, leaving 
the disappointed to try for the next steamer. All rushed for the gold 
fields; some made enormous fortunes, and others failed to find any 
of the precious metal. 



7. Inventions. 

In Polk's administration (1846), Elias Howe, of Massa- 
chusetts, invented the sewing-machine. Its effect was to 
cheapen the price of clothing, by diminishing the labor in 
sewing. After some years its use extended into the fac- 
tories, giving employment to many thousands. In Polk's 
administration, in 1846, Kichard Hoe, of New York, in- 
vented a rotary, steam printing-press. This cheapened 
the price of printing, making books and newspapers more 
common, and thus influencing and educating the people. 
This press took the place of the hand-press formerly in use. 

Note 1. — To-day the Hoe octuple press can print 96,000 eight-page 
newspapers an hour. — McMaster. 

Note 2. — In 1846, it was discovered that a person could be made 
temporarily insensible to pain by the use of sulphuric ether. The 
discovery of this anaesthetic was claimed by Dr. Morton and Dr. 

Note 3.— Charles Goodyear, after years of experimenting in which 
he reduced himself to poverty, discovered how to harden, or vulcanize, 
india-rubber, for the purpose of making overshoes, caps, coats, etc. 
In 1844 he took out his first patent for the process. 



10 

Taylor's and Fillmore's Administration (1849 — 1853). 

1. Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, the hero of the Mexi- 
can War, was elected by the Whig party, and died after 
serving a little over a year, from 1849 to 1850. He was suc- 
ceeded by Millard Fillmore, of New York, the vice-presi- 
dent, who served as president from 1850 to 1853. 

2. Slavery was the chief political question of this 
period. 

Every time a State was to be admitted, the slavery ques- 
tion led to disputes in Congress. Each side wanted to in- 
crease its votes in Congress oy admitting new States, hold- 
ing its views, and by keeping out those holding contrary 
opinions. California applied for admission as a State, and 
to allay the strife on this and other points, Henry Clay, 
a United States senator from Kentucky, proposed a plan 
of compromise in the United States Senate, in 1850. The 
matter was referred to a committee of thirteen senators. 
Clay being made chairman of the committee. Clay's plan 
w^as adopted by the committee with few changes, and sub- 
mitted to Congress. It was called an "Omnibus Bill," as 
its recommendations dealt with California, Utah, New Mex- 
ico, and the passage of a law regarding escaped slaves. 

Its compromise measures w^ere passed as separate bills by 
Congress, and signed by President Fillmore. By this action : 

(a) California was admitted into the Union as a free 
State, its Constitution excluding slavery from the State. 

(b) Utah and New Mexico were organized as territories 
without any provision regarding slavery. 

(c) The slave trade was prohibited in the District of 
Columbia. 

(d) A Fugitive Slave Law was enacted. This law pro- 
vided for United States officials who should hear claims 



11 

to fugitive slaves, and should surrender such slaves to 
their owners without a jury trial. Persons who assisted 
a fugitive slave to escape could be fined and imprisoned. 
''The worst feature of the law was that it compelled any 
bystander to assist in making a capture if summoned to 
do so by the sla^e-catcher. " The effect of this law was 
to strengthen the antislavery party greatly, as the law w^as 
very unpopular in the North. 

j^OTE 1.— California, after adopting a State Constitution whicli pro- 
hibited slavery in the State, applied for admission into the Union; 
the South opposed her admission for the reason that it would mean 
more antislavery votes in Congress, The South said she would agree 
to California's admission on receiving other concessions; hence the 
Compromise of 1850 was passed. James Mason (later connected with 
Slidell), a senator from Virginia, drafted the stringent Fugitive Slave 
Law. One provision of it allowed the commissioner who determined 
the matter a fee of ten dollars if he adjudged the negro to slavery 
and only five dollars if he declared the fugitive a freeman. The law 
irritated the North and inspired the writing of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin" 
by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This book, published in 1852, helped to 
elect Lincoln. — Adapted from Eliodes. 

Note 2. — An organized system for aiding fugitive slaves to escape 
to Canada was formed after the passage of this law. This ''Under- 
ground Railroad" as it was called, was a "network of routes along 
which slaves escaping to the free States were sent by night from one 
friendly house to another," until they reached safety and freedom. 

Note 3. — Daniel Webster spoke on Clay's compromise resolutions 
on the seventh of March, 1850. Webster was America's greatest 
orator, and his intellectual powers probably exceeded those of all our 
other statesmen. His love for his country and his reverence for the 
Constitution were profound. In his famous Seventh-of-March Speech 
he supported the Fugitive Slave Law and opposed the Abolition 
societies. For this he was condemned by the North. Whittier in his 
poem, ' ' Ichabod, ' ' mourned for the ' ' fallen ' ' statesman. Yet Web- 
ster was actuated by a love for the Union, for he believed the attacks 
on slavery would injure the Union. Webster's influence was of im- 
mense value in passing the compromise measures. 

3. The growth of the antislavery sentiment was 

largely due to the work of Seward, Sumner, Beecher, and 
Whittier. 



12 

William Henry Seward, a prominent lawyer, was a 
United States senator from New York, from 1849 to 1861. 
He opposed slavery, voting against both the " Omnibus Bill" 
in 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in -1854. He was one 
of the founders of the present Republican party. As Secre- 
tary of State in Lincoln's administration, he settled the 
Trent Affair creditably. One of the Booth party of con- 
spirators stabbed Seward while ill in bed, the same night 
Lincoln was shot, but failed to kill him. 

Johnson continued Seward as Secretary of State. In 
1867, Congress, acting on Seward's advice, purchased 
Alaska from Russia. 

Charles Sumner, a lawyer, succeeded Webster as a 
United States senator from Massachusetts, in 1851. He op- 
posed slavery and voted against the Kansas-Nebraska Bill 
in 1854. He was one of the founders of the present Repub- 
lican party. In 1856, in his speech in the Senate on "The 
Crime against Kansas," he spoke severely against one of 
the South Carolina senators. A few days later, this man's 
nephew, Preston S. Brooks, beat Sumner, who was working 
at his desk, so severely on the head with a cane that he was 
unable to return to the Senate for nearly four years. Sum- 
ner's statesmanship was remarkable for its honesty. 

Henry Ward Beecher was the famous pastor of Ply- 
mouth Church, Brooklyn. He was a great orator both in 
the pulpit and on the lecture platform, and attacked slavery 
everywhere as a great evil. In 1863, he delivered addresses 
on the Civil War in England, taking the Union's side, and 
by his eloquence did much to prevent England's recogniz- 
ing the Confederacy. 



13 

John Greenleaf Whittier. (See ''History Notes for 
Sixth Grade, Revised, 1906.") 

Note 1. — Eeview the biographies of Webster, Clay, and Calhoun in 
' * Sixth Grade Notes. ' ' Give their views on the slavery question. 

Note 2. — Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, sister of Henry Ward 
Beeeher, exerted a powerful influence against slavery by her famous 
novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin." It was published first as a serial in a 
Washington newspaper, and appeared in book form in 1852. Its sale 
was immense, and it was translated into twenty different languages. 
Lodge says: ''Eufus Choate probably did not miss the truth far 
when he said the book would make two million Abolitionists. ' * 

Pierce's Administration (1853 — 1857). 

I. Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, was elected 
president by the Democratic party, serving from 1853 to 
1857. 

Slavery continued the chief political question. 

2. The Gadsden Purchase. 

To settle the disputed boundary line between Mexico and 
the United States, General James Gadsden, in 1853, nego- 
tiated a treaty with Mexico, by which we secured a large 
tract of land in the southern part of Arizona and the south- 
western part of New Mexico, paying in return ten million 
dollars to Mexico. 

3. The Kansas=Nebraska Act. 

Stephen Douglas, a Democratic United States senator 
from Illinois, introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Bill into 
Congress in 1854. There had been violent disputes in Con- 
gress regarding slavery from 1820 on. 

Each party wished to increase its votes in Congress and 
to prevent the votes of the other party from increasing. 
The quarrel was renewed every time a State or a Terri- 
tory was organized. 



14 

Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Bill provided for the organi- 
zation of two Territories, Kansas and Nebraska, allowing 
the people of each Territory to decide for themselves as to 
whether to permit slavery or not. As the early settlers were 
sometimes called squatters, their power of deciding the 
question was called "squatter sovereignty." The bill pro- 
vided for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which 
prohibited slavery in that region ; it became a law in 1854. 

The result was to lead to a bitter conflict in Kansas. Both 
the slavery and antislavery parties sent settlers to Kansas, 
and fighting went on for several years. John BroA\Ti, the 
Abolitionist, took part in this conflict. Finally, the anti- 
slavery party won, and Kansas was admitted as a free State 
in 1861. 

The Kansas-Nebraska Act by setting aside the Missouri 
Compromise, aroused intense indignation in the North. It 
disrupted the Democratic party and opened the way for 
the formation of the Republican party, as opposed to the 
extension of slavery. The Act greatly widened the breach 
between the North and the South. 

Note 1. — As Douglas and Pierce botli desired the next presidential 
nomination, they wanted Southern support. By the aid of Jefiferson 
Davis, Pierce's secretary of war, Douglas induced Pierce to agree to 
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Both made a great blunder. 
Douglas was denounced ' ' as the betrayer of his country, the Judas 
Iscariot, and a society of women in Ohio sent him thirty pieces of 
silver. . . . Attempting to speak in his own city of Chicago, he 
was hooted off the stage. By his own statement he 'could travel 
from Boston to Chicago by the light of his own effigies. ' . . . He 
soon found himself dashed to the ground like a broken toy, and his 
presidential prospects forever blasted.'' 

Note 2. — The struggle between the slavery party and the anti- 
slavery party for the possession of Kansas lasted seven years, from 
1854 to 1861. At the first election there in 1854, a mob of five thou- 
sand armed men marched from Missouri to Kansas, seized the ballot- 
boxes, and elected to the Territorial Legislature men who were in favor 
of slavery. The next year the New England immigrants and others 



15 

who were opposed to slavery organized a govemment of their own, 
thus giving two separate governments in Kansas. Civil war broke 
out. 

In 1857, a convention at Lecompton adopted the unjust Lecompton 
Constitution; application was made to Congress for admission as a 
State under this proslavery Constitution, although three-fourths of 
the people of Kansas opposed slavery. President Buchanan urged 
Congress to admit Kansas with this Constitution. Douglas opposed 
the injustice in a great speech before the Senate, insisting that the 
people of Kansas had a right to vote on their Constitution. He won 
his cause and also regained his place as leader of the Democratic 
party. When the people of Kansas did vote on the Lecompton Con- 
stitution, they rejected it by a large majoritj^ Finally, in January, 
1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free State. 

Note 3. — The struggle over slavery resulted in the breaking up of 
the old Whig party. The present Eepublican party was formed from 
part of the Whigs and the Free-soilers. At a ''meeting at Eipon, 
in Wisconsin, in 1854, it was proposed to call the new party Eepub- 
lican.'^ The new party was successful in the state elections of 1854 
and 1855, and this led to a convention at Pittsburgh on Washington's 
Birthday, 1856. There and then the national Eepublican party was 
founded. 

At Philadelphia, in June, 1856, a Eepublican National Convention 
nominated John C. Fremont for president. The Democrats nominated 
James Buchanan, who was elected. —Abridged from McMaster. 

Note 4. — In 1853, Commodore Matthew C. Perry visited Japan with 
a United States fleet. He induced them to make a treaty the next 
year, permitting trade with the United States. During the fifty years 
after that date, Japan has developed into a great, civilized world 
power. 

Buchanan's Administration (1857 — 1861). 

I. James BuclianaD, of Pennsylvania, was elected presi- 
dent by the Democratic party, serving from 1857 to 1861. 

In this administration, slavery continued the chief politi- 
cal question. 

2. The Dred Scott Decision. 

Dred Scott was a negro slave owned by an army sur- 
geon living in Missouri. He was taken from Missouri to 
the free State of Illinois and then to Minnesota, which had 
free soil according to the Missouri Compromise of 1820. 



16 

When brought back to Missouri, Scott sued in court for 
freedom, claiming that his residence on free soil had made 
him a freeman. 

The case was finally taken to the Supreme Court of the 
United States, of which Koger Taney was Chief Justice. 
The decision of the Supreme Court was that Dred Scott 
was still a slave, devoid of the legal rights of a citizen; 
and that a slave was only a piece of property, and might 
be taken into the Territories of the United States if the 
owner so desired. 

Taney further declared that the IMissouri Compromise 
of 1820 was unconstitutional and void, since Congress 
could not shut slavery out of the Territories. 

The effect of this decision was to enrage the North and 
to make permanent peace between the two sections of the 
country impossible. 

Note 1. — The Dred Scott decision was delivered two days after 
Buchanan was inaugurated, March, 1857. Chief Justice Taney 
thought the Supreme Court could settle the slavery question in the 
Dred Scott case. Taney declared that ' ' the right of property in a 
slave is distinctly and expressly aflfirmed in the Constitution,'' and 
that Congress had no right to prohibit it; consequently the Missouri 
Compromise Act ' ' is not warranted by the Constitution, and is there- 
fore void." Five judges agreed with Taney, making two-thirds of 
the Supreme Court. — Ehodes. 

Mote 2. — The Lincoln-Douglas debates in Illinois in 1858 attracted 
much attention. The people of Illinois were to elect a Legislature 
which would choose a United States senator. Stephen A. Douglas 
was the Democratic candidate and Abraham Lincoln was the Eepubli- 
can candidate. The debates were on the slavery question, seven 
"joint debates" being held in different towns of Illinois. Douglas 
won the senatorship, but Lincoln won the presidency by these speeches, 

3. John Brown's Raid. 

John Brown, who had fought against the slavery party 
in Kansas, went, in 1859, to Harper's Ferry, in northeast- 
ern West Virginia on the Potomac River, in order to start 



ir 



an insurrection among the slaves. The old man with 
twenty-two followers seized the United States arsenal 
there; but it was soon retaken, and Brown with six fol- 
lowers was hanged. While the North did not approve of 
his attempt, his fate aroused much sympathy there. 

Note 1. — On a cold, dark Sunday niglit of October 16th, Jolin 
Brown, with his few followers, seized the United States armory and 
the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, then a town of about 1,400 inhabitants. 

For a few hours after daybreak. Brown might have retreated in 
safety to the mountains, but he refused. On Monday evening. Colonel 
Robert E. Lee arrived, and early on Tuesday morning he forced 
Brown 's surrender. Of Brown 's force of twenty-two, nine were killed, 
six were taken prisoners, and seven escaped. After a trial of five 
days, the jury found him guilty of freason and murder in the first 
degree, and the judge sentenced him to be hanged on the second of 
December. 

Brown to the end felt he had done right in his effort to free the 
slaves. ' ' Soldiers marched ahead of the wagon in which the old 
Puritan, seated on his coffin, rode." He calmly said to his compan- 
ions as he looked at the mountains around, ' ' This is a beautiful coun- 
try. ' ' Brown showed not a tremor of fear, and died * ' like a man, ' ' 
unheeding the hostile guard of fifteen hundred Virginia troops that 
surrounded the scaffold. 

Note 2. — Within a year and a half from the day of his death, the 
North and the South were at war with each other, and a Northern 
regiment on its way to the contest was singing: 

"John BrowTi 's body lies a mouldering in the grave, 
But his soul is marching on." — Montgomery. 

4. The First Atlantic Cable. 

Cyrus W. Field, of New York, after many experiments, 
succeeded in lajdng a cable on the bed of the ocean between 
Newfoundland and Ireland, in 1858. After a few weeks, 
it failed to work. Mr. Field continued his efforts, until 
in 1S66. a successful cable was laid bv the famous ship, the 
■'Great Eastern." The cable permitted rapid communi- 
cation betweeri the two continents. 

Note. — A New York newspaper dated August 4, 1815, was the first 
to give America the news of the battle of Waterloo, fought on the 
eighteenth of June, almost seven weeks before. The cable made a 



18 

vast difference. Thus, the coronation of King Edward VII. of Eng- 
land took place on August 9, 1902, at noon; but some hours before 
noon of that day the American papers gave the account of the event. 

• — Abridged from Elson. 

5. In Buchanan's administration, in 1858, the famous 
Comstock lode was discovered in Nevada, one of the richest 
deposits of silver in the world. Rich deposits of gold and 
silver were later found in different parts of the West. 

In 1859, the first petroleum v^^ell was di'illed by Mr. E. 
Drake, near Titusville, in northwestern Pennsylvania. 
Petroleum to-day is one of the important exports of the 
United States. 

Note. — California is the State producing most petroleum to-day. 

6. The progress in literature continued. Two great 

writers of this Civil War epoch were Emerson and Lowell. 

Bryant, Whittier, Longfellow, Hawthorne, Bancroft, and 

Holmes were still in the full vigor of their literary careers. 

Note. — In the following biographies the dates are for reference 
only. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), the celebrated es- 
sayist and poet, was born in Massachusetts and graduated 
from Harvard College. After being a clergyman for a 
few years, he became a lecturer for almost forty years. 
His best-known essays are *' Self -Reliance,'* '^ Compensa- 
tion," and ''History.'* His work on "Representative 
Men" deals with the lives of certain eminent characters in 
history. Emerson's finest poems are ''The Rhodora" and 
"Concord Hymn." His writings have noble, beautiful 
thoughts, though frequently they are hard to understand. 

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), a great American 
poet and essayist, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 



19 

and graduated from Harvard College. He became a pro- 
fessor of literature in Harvard when Longfellow resigned 
the position. He was editor of the "North American Re- 
view'* for a number of years, and was United States min- 
ister first to Spain and then to England. His chief prose 
worl^ are ''Among My Books" and "My Study Windows." 
His best-known poems are "The Vision of Sir Launfal," 
"Under the Old Elm," "The First Snow-Fall," and "The 
Biglow Papers." 

Note. — Eeview the biographies of Cooper, Irving, Bryant, Whit- 
tier, Longfellow, Holmes, Hawthorne, Bancroft, and Prescott, as 
given in the * ' History Notes for Sixth Grade, Kevised, 1906. ' ' 



7. The Presidential Election of i860. 

This election was very exciting. The South threatened 
to secede if a Republican president was elected. The 
Democratic party was split into two factions. One faction 
nominated John C. Breckinridge, and the other faction 
nominated Stephen A. Douglas. The Republicans suc- 
ceeded in electing Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, with Han- 
nibal Hamlin, of Maine, as vice-president. 

As soon as this was known. South Carolina seceded from 
the Union, and soon Georgia and the five Gulf States fol- 
lowed. In Februaiy, 1861, delegates from these seven 
States met at Montgomery, Alabama, and organized their 
new government, calling it the "Confederate States of 
America." 

Jefferson Davis, cf Mississippi, was elected president, 
and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, was made vice- 
president; when Virginia seceded in 1861, Richmond was 
made the Confederate capital. 



20 

After the war actually began, in the spring of 1861, Vir- 
ginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina seceded, 
making eleven seceded states. 

Note. — The industrial and social condition of the people in 1860 
showed marked progress. 

The population then numbered about 31,000,000. In the South 
agriculture was the chief occupation, with cotton the leading crop; 
in the North and West, commerce, agriculture, mining, and manufac- 
turing were the chief industries. McCormick 's reaper ' ' made possible 
the great grain fields of the West." The value of the manufactures 
was ten times as great as in 1810, due to the building of great fac- 
tories and the use of improved m.achinery. In 1860 there were about 
a thousand cotton factories chiefly in the Middle States and New 
England. Iron and steel, boots and shoes, woolen goods, and rubber 
were other leading manufactures. 

The increase of railroads improved commerce, there being 30,000 
miles of railroad in the United States in 1860. This period was 
remarkable for the number of American ships engaged in ocean com- 
merce. 

The cities increased in size and number, about one-sixth of the 
population of the country living in large towns or cities. Some of 
these cities began to show great improvement, with public water 
works, gas, and street cars, drawn by horses. Newspapers were 
numerous, and the graded public school was found in most of the 
cities. 



8. The Condition of the Country in the Winter of i860. 

Buchanan, the Democratic president, in his annual De- 
cember message to Congress in 1860, showed his sympathy 
for the South but advised against secession. The message, 
however, denied the power of the president or Congress to 
prevent a State from seceding from the Union. The North 
vras astonished at the message ; the Southern States judged 
from it that the president would not interfere with them. 
On December 6, 1860, South Carolina elected a secession 
convention, and on December 20th, the delegates passed an 
ordinance of secession, declaring the union between South 
Carolina and the United States dissolved. Georgia and 
the five Gulf States soon followed. 



21 

The United States forts and arsenals were being every- 
where seized but Buchanan did not interfere. Before the 
end of his administration, the Confederate government had 
seized nearly every fort, navy yard, and custom-house in 
the South. It is possible that Buchanan might have pre- 
vented secession by reinforcing the Federal forts in Charles- 
ton harbor, but he declined to do so. The South ignored 
every attempt the North made to bring about a reconcilia- 
tion, and war was inevitable. 

Note. — In January, 1860, General John A. Dix, of New York, be- 
came Buchanan's Secretary of the Treasury. His dispatch to the 
treasury agent at New Orleans, "If any man attempts to haul down 
the American flag, shoot him on the spot," had a great effect on the 
North. 

Lincoln's Administration (1861=1865). 

Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, was elected by the Republi- 
can party, serving from 1861 to 1865. 

Note 1. — Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) served in the Mexican War. 
He entered the United States Senate in 1847; from 1853-57, under 
President Pierce, he was Secretary of War; in 1857 he became again 
a United States senator from Mississippi, serving in the Senate until 
his State seceded. He was elected president of the Confederate 
States, serving until the end of the Civil War. When Lee sur- 
rendered, Davis fled from Eichmond, trying to renew the war; he 
was captured in Georgia about a month later. He was imprisoned in 
Fort Monroe, Virginia, for two years after the war ended (1865- 
1867), being finally released on bail. On Christmas day, 1868, John- 
son issued a pardon for all unpardoned Confederates, and Davis be- 
came free. 

Note 2. — Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, February 12, 
1809. He received only one year's schooling, but his constant read- 
ing of good books gave him an education. At nineteen he went as a 
flatboatman to New Orleans, his wages being $10 a month. On his 
return he helped the family move to Hlinois, and aided in the build- 
ing of the log cabin. Then he split the rails to fence in their ten-acre 
farm- 
After trying various pursuits, in 1834 he began to study law, be- 
coming a lawyer in Springfield a few years afterwards. He was 
elected to Congress in 1846, serving one term. His ''joint debates" 
with Douglas in 1858 gave him a national fame, and in 1860, he was 



elected to the presidency of the United States. Ee-elected in 1864, 
he brought the Civil War to a successful close. He was shot by John 
Wilkes Booth in Ford's Theater, Washington, April 14, 1865, dying 
the next day. 

James Eussell Lowell said, '^History will rank Lincoln among the 
most prudent of statesmen and the most successful of rulers. If we 
wish to appreciate him, we have only to conceive the inevitable chaos 
in which we should now (1864) be weltering had a weak man or an 
unwise one been chosen in his stead. ' ' 

Nicolay, one of his biographers, says, "As statesman, ruler, and 
liberator, civilization will hold his name in perpetual honor." 

The Civil War, i86i— 1865. 

The three great causes of the Civil War were slavery, 
the doctrine of State rights, and the tariff, 

(a) Slavery was the chief cause. The South was an 
agricultural section, and used slave labor. The North was 
mainly a manufacturing section^ and required no slave 
labor. This produced a conflict of interests and opinions. 
Slavery began at Jamestown, in 1619, when Dutch traders 
brought twenty negroes there. 

The invention of the cotton-gin, in 1793, made cotton a 
great production in the South, and increased the need of 
slaves. 

The quarrel over slavery was shown in the Constitution 
itself, in the Ordinance of 1787, in the Missouri Compromise 
of 1820, in the rise of the Abolitionist party in 1831, in the 
annexation of Texas in 1845, in the Wilmot Proviso in 1846, 
in the "Omnibus Bill" of 1850, in the Kansas-Nebraska Act 
of 1854, in the Dred Scott Decision in 1857, and in John 
Brown's Raid in 1859. 

(b) By the doctrine of State rights, we mean the 
opinion that the United States was only a voluntary league 
of States, and that any State might set aside any act of 
Congress which it considered unconstitutional, or might 
secede from the Union when it desired. According to this 



doctrine, the State government was independent of the 
Federal government. The Southern States all held this 
view, while the North rejected this idea entirely, believing 
in an indissoluble union. 

(c) The North and the South held opposing views on the 
tariff. The North, as a manufacturing section, desired a 
high protective tariff to enable its products to compete with 
the cheaper importations of Europe. The South, as an 
agricultural section, opposed a high tariff. It had no 
manufactures to protect, and desired only to buy its needs 
as cheap as possible. This conflict of interests was shown 
especially in the Nullification troubles of 1832. 

(d) The immediate causes of the outbreak of hostilities 
were the election of Lincoln, the secession of the Southern 
States, and the attack on Fort Sumter. 

Note. — Lincoln was inaugurated March 4, 1861. The President's 
address was conciliatory and concluded with these beautiful words to 
the South: ''We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be 
enemies. Though passions may have strained, they must not break 
our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching 
from every battle-field and patriot grave, to every living heart and 
hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of 
the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better 
angels of our nature. '^ 

Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor was one of the few 

forts in the South that remained loyal to the Union. Bu- 
chanan had sent an unarmed steamer, the "Star of the 
West," to bring the fort food and other supplies, but the 
Confederates drove it back. Lincoln on April 8th notified 
the governor of South Carolina that he intended to send 
provisions to Fort Sumter. Jefferson Davis then directed 
General Beauregard to demand Fort Sumter's surrender, 
and in case it refused, to fire on it. As Major Anderson 
refused to surrender the fort, it was bombarded for thirty- 



24 

four hours, and Anderson was forced to surrender on 

April 14, 1861. The effect was that the North and the 

South determined on war. 

Note. — Anderson's little garrison consisted of one hundred and 
twenty-eight men. His report to the Secretary of War was as follows : 
* ' Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours, until the quar- 
ters were entirely burned, the main gates destroyed, the gorge-wall 
seriously injured, the magazine surrounded by flames, and its door 
closed from the effects of the heat, four barrels and three cartridges 
of powder only being available, and no provisions but pork remaining, 
I accepted terms of evacuation offered by General Beauregard, and 
marched out of the fort on Sunday afternoon, the 14th instant, with 
colors flying and drums beating, bringing away company and private 
property, and saluting my flag with fifty guns. ' ' 

The Raising of Men and Money for the War. 

(a) The day following the fall of Fort Sumter, Lincoln 
issued a proclamation for 75,000 troops to serve three 
months, and four times that number volunteered. 

(b) The low revenue tariff was changed by Congress, 
and a high war tariff was passed in 1861, to raise funds for 
government needs. This tariff was called the Morrill Tariff. 
By the end of the war, the tariff was almost three times 
as great as in Buchanan's administration. 

(c) As the expenses of the government varied from one 
to three million dollars daily, heavy taxes were laid. Money 
was also raised by borrowing, bonds being issued which 
paid a high rate of interest. The government also issued 
paper money, or "greenbacl^," These two methods were 
the ideas of Salmon P. Chase, the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury. Gold was soon at a premium as the war continued, 
and "greenbacks" sank in value, so that in July, 1864, a 
dollar note was worth only thirty-five cents in gold. 

Note. — The Confederate money steadily depreciated in value. In 
1864, Mrs. Jefferson Davis says that in Eichmond a turkey cost $60, 
a barrel of flour $300, and a pair of shoes $150. 



25 



The Principal Movements of the War. 

(a) The operatious of the Confederates were mainly de- 
fensive, the chief exceptions beinoj Lee's invasions of the 
North in 1862 and in 1863, and Early's raid in 1864. This 
gave them an immense advantage, as they knew their terri- 
tory and could use all their forces to defend it, without 
using any in overrunning the North The operations of 
the North were mamly aggressive, and were conducted in 
the enemy's territory. 

(b) The three chief objects of the Union forces were 
the blockade of the Southern ports, the opening of the Mis- 
sissippi River, and the capture of Richmond. 

The Blockade. 

In April, 1861, Lincoln declared the entire Southern 
coast in a state of blockade. The purpose of the blockade 
was to prevent the importing of war supplies into the South. 
and to prevent the exporting of cotton and other products 
from the South, thus ruining its commerce, and impoverish- 
ing it. (See Outline of Blockade Events.) 

Note— Each side began with certain advantages and certain dis- 
advantages. The South had a white population only one-fourth as 
large as that of the North, but she could send nearly all the men to 
fight the slaves remaining on the plantations to raise the crops, ine 
North was rich in money, foundries, shipyards, railroads, etc., while 
the South was much poorer in the^e respects. With a strict blockade, 
its resources were very limited, indeed. A great advantage of the 
South was that her warfare was mainly defensive. Her soldiers knew 
the country, and they were fighting for their own homes. 

The geographical features of the country had an important mtlu- 

^"^The Mississippi cut the Confederacy in two, and its control by the 
Linion forces prevented the Western Secessionists from aiding those 
in the East; so the Union control of Chesapeake Bay gave easy water 
access to Richmond. The march to Richmond by land was very dif- 
ficult for Northern troops; but Southern troops could march easily 
through the sheltered mountain valleys of Virginia to the neighbor- 
hood of Washington. 



26 



Operations in 1861. 

I. In western Virginia the people favored the Union. 
General McClellan and General Rosecrans defeated the 
Confederates in several battles, driving them out of that 
region. A State was formed from this part of Virginia, 
and admitted in 1863 as West Virginia. 

2. Operations in Missouri. 

General Lyons saved the State of Missouri to the Union. 
He prevented the Confederates from capturing the arsenal 
at St. Louis. After several minor battles, General Lyons, 
with a smaller force, attacked the Confederates at Wilson's 
Creek, in southwestern Missouri, in 1861, but was defeated 
and killed. By the exertions of other Union generals the 
Confederates were driven into Arkansas, leaving Missouri 
in the Union. 

3. The Battle of Bull Run. 

The Union forces under General McDowell began their 
march towards Richmond. In July, 1861, they met the 
Confederate forces under General Beauregard at Bull Run, 
a small stream in northern Virginia. The Confederates, 
reinforced by General Joseph Johnston, utterly defeated 
the Union troops. General Thomas Jackson won his title 
of ''Stonewall" Jackson in this battle. The effect of the 
battle was to encourage the South and to make the North 
more determined. Congress calling at once for five hundred 
thousand men. 

Note 1. — The Confederates called this the battle of Manassas from 
the village near by. 

Note 2. — General Bee, rallying his men, shouted: "There's Jack- 
son standing like a stone waU ! ' ' From that time on he was called 
''Stonewall" Jackson. 



27 
4. The "Trent" Affair. 

England and France early in the war recognized the Con- 
federate States as belligerents; the Southern people were 
considered as conducting a regular war, and were not re- 
garded as mere rebels. Hoping to secure a recognition of 
independence from these countries, the South in 1861 sent 
Messrs. Mason and Slidell, to urge its cause. Escaping to 
Havana, they there went on the British ship ''Trent", to 
sail to England. When the ''Trent" was out at sea, 
Captain Wilkes, of the United States steamer "San Ja- 
cinto" seized Mason and Slidell, and took them to Bos- 
ton. England considered this action as an insult to her 
flag, and demanded their release. Mr. Seward, the Secre- 
tary of State, returned them and said Captain Wilkes had 
acted without orders. This prevented any w^ar with Eng- 
land. 

Note.— Many people of the governing classes of England favored 
the Confederacy; so did many of the manufacturers, who had to shut 
down their factories because of the lack of Southern cotton. The 
English working people, however, favored the North. A hatred of 
slavery, common to all England, prevented the English government 
from aiding the South by recognizing its independence. 

Louis Napoleon, the French emperor, was eager to recognize the 
independence of the South; France would certainly have done so if 
England had led the way. Eussia, on the contrary, was very friendly 
to the North. In the spring of 1863, a Eussian fleet was stationed 
in New York harbor and another at San Francisco, both remaining 
there for many months. The orders to the commander were that if 
war broke out between the United States and England or France, the 
Eussian fleets were to fight for the Union cause. 

1862. Operations in the West. 

I. Grant's Campaign. 

The object of Grant's campaign in 1862 was to open up 
the Mississippi River, and to separate the States west of it 
from the rest of the Confederacy, In northwestern Ten- 



28 

nessee were two forts, Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, 
and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. Commodore 
Foote with his iron-clad gunboats captured Fort Henry in 
February. Grant, aided by Foote 's gunboats, attacked 
Fort Donelson a week later, and after three days* bombard- 
ment, General Buckner had to surrender the fort and its 
garrison of fifteen thousand. 

Note. — When General Buckner asked Grant what terms he would 
offer. Grant replied: **No terms except unconditional and immediate 
surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately on your 
works. ' ' 

Grant advanced his army southward, and in April, 1862, 
fought a great battle at Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, in 
southwestern Tennessee. In the second day of the battle, 
Buell reinforced Grant, and the Confederates under Gen- 
eral Albert Johnston were defeated. In this battle about 
one hundred thousand men fought, and over twenty thou- 
sand were killed or wounded. General Albert Johnston was 
among those killed. The result of Grant's campaign was to 
hold Tennessee and to greatly encourage the North. 

2. The gunboats under Foote, after taking Fort Henry 
and aiding in capturing Fort Donelson, soon attacked 
Island No. lo, in the Mississippi River, northwest of Ten- 
nessee. Aided by land forces imder Pope, this was taken 
in April. The flotilla proceeded down the Mississippi, and 
defeated the Confederate fleet at Memphis, which was then 
occupied by the Union forces. The result of these battles 
was the control of the river as far as Memphis, in south- 
western Tennessee. 

Coast Operations in 1862. 

I. A very important coast operation in 1862 was the 
battle between the "Monitor" and the "Merrimac" 



29 

In 1861, tne iNorfolk navy-yard had been abandoned by 
the Federal government, and the *'Merrimac" with others 
was sunk to prevent their capture by the South. The Con- 
federates afterwards raised it, covered it with iron, gave it 
an iron prow and called it the '* Virginia.*' In March, 
1862, under the command of Commodore Franklin Bu- 
chanan, it entered Hampton Roads (that part of Chesa- 
peake Bay at the mouth of the James River) , and destroyed 
the wooden war vessels, the ^'Cumberland" and the ''Con- 
gress." That same night the *' Monitor," commanded by 
Lieutenant John L. Worden, entered Hampton Roads. It 
was iron-clad, with a low deck and a central, iron-clad re- 
volving turret, with two guns. It was built in New York 
by the Swedish inventor. Captain John Ericsson. After 
a four hours' battle (Sunday, March 9th), the ''Merrimac" 
had to withdraw, although not destroyed. The effect of the 
battle was to save the Northern ports, which would have 
been at the mercy of the "Merrimac." If the "Merrimac" 
had won, the blockade would soon have been destroyed, and 
the Confederacy might have been saved. As a result of 
this battle, wooden war vessels were withdrawn by the na- 
tions, and ironclads took their place. 

Note. — The Confederates blew up the ''Mernmac" when they 
evacuated Norfolk in May, 1862, during McClellan's campaign. The 
*' Monitor" sank in a gale at sea, near Cape Hatteras, December 31, 
1862. 

2. New Orleans was the most important Southern port. 
It was defended by Fort St. Philip and Fort Jackson, about 
seventy-eight miles below the city. Below the forts heavy 
iron chains were stretched across the river, while above the 
forts fifteen war vessels guarded the city. 

In April, 1862, a land and naval expedition was sent 
against it. Commodore David G. Farragut commanding the 



30 

fleet of forty -seven vessels, while General Benjamin Butlet 
commanded the land forces. After the forts had been 
bombarded in vain for six days, Farragut determined to 
pass them by night, and after a terrible battle, succeeded in 
doing so. Next attacking the Confederate war vessels 
above the forts, he captured or destroyed them, and forced 
New Orleans to surrender. The city was then occupied by 
General Butler with his army. 

Note. — General Butler's rule in New Orleans was extremely severe. 
He caused William Mumford to be hanged for removing the Federal 
flag from the United States mint. 

3. Numerous places were captured on the coast during 
1862, and by the end of this year, the only coast cities that 
the Confederates held were Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, 
and Wilmington. This made the blockade very successful. 

Note. — The blockade-running early became a regular system, ad- 
venturous business firms in England and the Confederacy making 
great gains by it. Arms, blankets, shoes, tea, linen, wool, silk, wines, 
medicines, etc. were shipped from England to Bermuda, Nassau, or 
Havana, and then taken by Confederate ships, called blockade run- 
ners, to Wilmington, Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, or Galveston, 
where the goods found a quick sale. The vessels took back a return 
load of cotton to Nassau, Bermuda, or Havana, and from there it 
went to England. This cotton was very cheap in the South and very 
dear in England and the North. The blockade runners were painted 
a dull gray or lead color, making them invisible except at close 
range; to avoid smoke, they used hard coal where possible. 

The Union ships did good work in capturing these blockade runners 
and in closing port after port of the South. Charleston and Wil- 
mington held out the longest, the latter continuing the traffic till 
Fort Fisher was captured in January, 1865. — Adapted from Ehodes. 

4, The Confederate cruiser, "Alabama," was built in 
Liverpool, England, and its crew was mainly Englishmen. 
It was commanded by Captain Semmes and did great dam- 
age to Union vessels, destroying between 1862 and 1864, 
over sixty vessels with their cargoes. In 1864, the "Kear- 
sarge," a Union vessel, commanded by Captain John A. 
Winslow, destroyed the ''Alabama" in a great naval battle 



31 

near Cherbourg, off the coast of northwestern France. The 
depredations of the ''Alabama" led to the "Alabama" 
claims. (See Grant's administration.) 

Operations in the East in 1862. 

I. McCIellan's Campaign (March-August, 1862). 

The object of McCIellan's campaign was to capture Rich- 
mond. His army of ninety thousand was moved by boats 
to Fort Monroe, on Chesapeake Bay, near the James 
River. This campaign is sometimes called the Peninsular 
campaign, because it was fought in the peninsula between 
the York River and the James, in southern Virginia. Mc- 
Clellan first besieged Yorktown, but the Confederates evac- 
uated it after delaying McClellan a month here. Norfolk 
was evacuated about the same time. The Union army ad- 
vanced to within seven miles of Richmond, producing a 
panic there. Instead of attacking the city at once, McClel- 
lan waited for reinforcements under McDowell. General 
Jackson, in order to prevent this reinforcement, raided the 
Shenandoah Valley. This produced a panic in Washing- 
ton, and McDowell was ordered to the Shenandoah Valley. 
Jackson retreated in safety, having accomplished his object. 
General Robert E. Lee had meanwhile become the Con- 
federate commander, and Jackson now joined him. 

The Avorst fighting in the Peninsular Campaign was in 
the Seven Days' battles in the Chickahominy Swamp re- 
gion east of Richmond. They began on June 25th. After 
McCIellan's victory at Mechanicsville on June 26th, he de- 
termined to remove his base to the James River. After 
severe fighting, the Federals reached a strong position at 
Malvern Hill on the James River. Here Lee attacked 
them on July 1st, but was defeated, ending the Seven 



32 

Days' battles. A few weeks later, the Army of the Poto- 
mac was withdrawn from the James, and the Peninsular 
Campaign ended. It was a failure, since Richmond was 
not captured by McClellan. 

Note. — Hawthorne, writing of the indignation caused by McClel- 
lan 's continued delay in attacking the Confederates, said: "When 
before in all history do we find a general in command of half a mil- 
lion men and in presence of an army inferior in numbers and no bet- 
ter disciplined than his own troops, leaving it still debatable after 
the better part of a year whether he is a soldier or not!" 

General George B. McClellan had been splendidly trained at West 
Point. He lacked many qualities of a successful general, but as a 
military organizer he was brilliant. When he assumed command the 
army was altogether untrained; in four months he made it the best 
disciplined and organized army ever seen in America. Meade, after 
the war, said : * * Had there been no McClellan, there could have been 
no Grant; the army made no essential improvement under any of his 
successors. ' ' 

2. Pope's Campaign (1862). 

The second battle of Bull Run was fought in 1862, shortly 
after McClellan 's unsuccessful campaign. McClellan had 
been ordered to unite his forces with those of General Pope, 
but before he arrived, Lee and Jackson attacked and utterly 
routed Pope at Bull Run. Pope's scattered forces with- 
drew to Washington. 

3. Lee's First Invasion. 

When McClellan withdrew from Richmond, Lee went 
northward, and defeated Pope at the battle of Bull Run, 
in northern Virginia. He then advanced into Maryland, 
hoping to win that State for the Confederates. McClellan 
was given the Union command again, and attacked Lee and 
Jackson at Antietam Creek, a branch of the Potomac in 
southern Maryland, near Sharpsburg, in September, 1862. 
The result was a Union success, but not a decided one. Each 



33 

side lost aDoiu twelve thousand men, and Lee had to with- 
draw across the Potomac into Virginia. 

Note —Lincoln urged an immediate pursuit of Lee after the bat- 
tle of Antietam, but the cautious McClellan waited five weeks before 
crossing the Potomac. Lincoln's patience was exhausted and he re- 
moved McClellan permanently from command. McClellan was an 
honest man, and sincerely devoted to the Union cause. 

4. After the battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued his 
Emancipation Proclamation (September 22, 1862), de- 
claring that on January 1, 1863, all slaves in States at war 
with the Union should be free. As the Confederate States 
continued their rebellion, he issued a second proclamation 
on January 1, 1863, setting the slaves there free. 

Note. — After Lincoln had written his proclamation, he waited about 
two months, not issuing it until the North had won an important 
victory. During these months he was urged on all sides to free the 
slaves. In a letter to Horace Greeley, editor of the ''New York 
Tribune," Lincoln said: "My paramount object in this struggle is 
to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery. ' ' 

Lincoln said that the proclamation was issued as a ''fit and 
necessary war measure for suppressing the rebellion. ' ' The effect of 
the proclamation was to bring to the Union army fully 100,000 former 
slaves, of whom many fought as Union soldiers. These were a loss 
to the South, as their services were valuable in raising crops to feed 
ihe armies. 

Lincoln freed the slaves in the warring States. He also proposed 
to free the other slaves gradually, and to pay their owners; in his 
annual message of December, 1862, he pleaded for "gradual and 
compensated" emancipation. Slavery was not abolished in the United 
States until the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Consti- 
tution was passed. 

1863. I. Lee's Second Invasion. 

After Lee defeated General Burnside at Fredericksburg 
m December, 1862, and conquered General Hooker at 
Chancellorsville in May, 1863, he felt strong enough to 
invade the North again. Leaving Virginia, he marched 
through Maryland into Pennsylvania. General Hooker re- 



34 

signed and George G. Meade was given command of the 
Union forces. At Gettysburg, in southern Pennsylvania, 
July 1, 1863, the Union forces met the Confederates, and be- 
gan a terrible three-day battle. Near the western limit 
of the town lies Seminary Ridge; on the east is Cemetery 
Ridge, and the three elevations known as Round Top, Little 
Round Top, and Gulp's Hill. General Reynolds of the 
Union army was killed as the battle opened. The first day's 
fight raged till late in the afternoon, the Confederates at 
its conclusion holding Seminary Ridge, and the Union 
forces, Cemetery Ridge, and the other three hills. 

General Hancock had been sent in advance by General 
Meade, and additional Union and Confederate troops 
marched all night to join the battle. General Meade ar- 
rived about one o'clock on the morning of July 2d, but 
the day's battle did not begin till late in the afternoon. 
The Confederates under Longstreet struggled desperately 
to gain Little Round Top, but the Union forces held it by 
great valor. 

On the third day (July 3d), the battle began at day- 
break. At one o'clock, a terrific artillery contest between 
the two armies began, two hundred cannons keeping up 
the duel for almost two hours. When this ended, Lee sent 
General Pickett with 15,000 to attack the Union centre. 
After fearful slaughter by Hancock's infantry, the ad- 
vancing Confederates were defeated, and the battle was 
over. Lee was forced to retreat into Virginia, ending the 
invasion. The effect of this battle was to ruin the Con- 
federacy. From then on, it lost its power. 

Note 1. — In the battle of Gettysburg, Lee had 70,000 men, and 
Meade about 93,000: the Union loss, in killed, wounded and missing, 
was about 23,000; that of the Confederates, about 20,000. 

In the charge led by General Pickett, the Confederates tried to 
march across a field a mile wide exposed to the Union batteries. 



35 

Hancock bravely continued to direct his men after he "u-as shot, and 
the Confederates after great loss of life withdrew. 

Note 2. — The battlefield of Gettysburg was made into a national 
cemetery with numerous Union monuments. It was dedicated on 
November 19, 1863. On this occasion President Lincoln delivered 
his famous Gettysburg address. 



Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg. 

Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth 
upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and 
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether 
that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, 
can long endure. AYe are met on a great battlefield of 
that war. Vs'e have come to dedicate a portion of that field 
as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives 
that that nation might live. 

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot con- 
secrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, 
living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, 
far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will 
little note, nor long remember, what we say here ; but it can 
never forget what they did here. 

It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to 
the unfinished work which they who fought here have 
thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here 
dedicated to the great task remaining before us ; that from 
these honored dead we take increased devotion to that 
cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion ; 
that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have 
died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a 
new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, 



36 

by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the 

earth. 

Note. — This wording follows that given in Harper 's * ' Encyclopedia 
of United States History/' Vol. 4. 

2. Grant's Campaign in 1863. 

General Grant remained in Tennessee and Mississippi, 
after winning the battle of Shiloh in 1862. His great work 
m 1863 was to capture Vicksburg, in western Mississippi 
on the Mississippi River. Assisted by General Sherman, 
he defeated General Pemberton and General Joseph E. 
Johnston, separately, in several battles, and succeeded in 
shutting Pemberton up in Vicksburg 

The siege lasted nearly seven weeks. Finally, on July 4, 

1863, Vicksburg surrendered, being unable to endure any 

longer the famine and the terrible Union bombardment. 

Note. — During the siege, the sufferings of the people of Vicksburg 
were terrible. To protect themselves from the shot and shell, the 
inhabitants "burrowed into the hillsides and lived in caves, where 
they spent days and weeks." Starvation threatened them, mule 
meat selling at a dollar a pound. When the city surrendered, "one- 
third of the army was in the hospital." 

Port Hudson, in southeastern Louisiana on the Missis- 
sippi River, after a long siege, surrendered to General 
Banks, in 1863, a few days after Vicksburg 's surrender. 
This opened all the Mississippi River, putting it entirely 
under the control of the North. 

1864. I. Operations in the East. 

Early in 1864, Grant was made commander-in-chief of 
the entire Union forces. He then began a campaign in 
Virginia, with the object of capturing Richmond and de- 
stroying Lee's army. Grant's army was almost twice the 
size of Lee's, but Lee had the advantage of position. The 



37 



first battle was the battle of the Wilderness, in northeast- 
ern Virginia, the region being so called because of its dense 
forests. The battle lasted two days, with great loss to both 
Lee and Grant, and the result was indecisive. A few weeks 
later, the two armies fought at Cold Harbor, nine miles 
from Richmond. Here Grant was badly defeated by Lee 
Note.— After the battle of the Wilderness, Grant fought the battle 
of Spottsylvania Court House, without any decisive result. It was 
after this battle that Grant sent his famous despatch to the War 
Department at Washington, in which he said: ''We have now (May 
11th) ended the sixth day of very heavy fighting. The result, to this 
time, is much in our favor. Our losses have been heavy, as well as 
those of the enemy. I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes 

all summer." „ , . . i.x i • 

Grant in his memoirs expressed regret for his error m attacking 
Lee at Cold Harbor. Lee was strongly intrenched, and Grant 's men 
"were mowed down by the thousand." In a few minutes, 6000 
Union troops ' ' were left dead or wounded on the field. " In a little 
more than a month. Grant's "hammering" policy cost him 55,000 
men, while there resulted "no success to justify the sacrifices. 

Grant now moved to the James River and tried to capture 
Petersburg, a city twenty-three miles south of Richmond. 
Lee prevented its capture, and Grant began the siege of the 
place in June, 1864. The greatest event of the siege during 
1864, was the explosion on July 30th, of the mine dug by 
the Union soldiers under one of the enemy's forts. The 
Union forces rushed into this gap or chasm to take the city, 
but were driven back with great slaughter. (See 1865.) 

2. Early's Invasion or Raid. 

In July, 1864, Lee, hoping to draw Grant away from 
Petersburg, sent Early up the Shenandoah Valley in west- 
ern Virginia, to threaten Washington. He came very near 
Washington, but did not attack it. After burning Cham- 
bersburg, Pennsylvania, he retreated into the Shenandoah 
Valley again. General Philip Sheridan was now sent 



38 

against Early by Grant. He defeated Early at Winchester, 

in northwestern Virginia, September, 1864. In October, 
1864, Early surprised and defeated the Union troops at 
Cedar Creek, while Sheridan was absent at Winchester, 
twenty miles distant. Sheridan heard the noise of the 
battle and returned in time to turn back his retreating 
army. They then attacked the surprised Confederates, 
and utterly defeated them. As a result of Sheridan *s cam- 
paign, Early's army was destroyed, and the Shenandoah 
laid waste. In 1865, Sheridan rejoined Grant at Peters- 
burg. 

Note.— Eead T. B. Read's poem, ''Sheridan's Ride." 

3. Operations in the South. 
Sherman's Campaign (1864=65). 

In 1864, while Grant was fighting Lee in Virginia, Gen- 
eral William T. Sherman was fighting General Johnston in 
Georgia. 

The object of Sherman's campaign was to capture At- 
lanta, destroy the Confederate army in Georgia, and 
lay the region waste. Sherman's army numbered one 
hundred thousand. After five battles in northwestern 
Georgia, Johnston had to retire to Atlanta. The Confed- 
erate government then put General Hood in place of John- 
ston. After defeating Hood three times, Sherman seized 
Atlanta, in September, 1864. This was an important cap- 
ture, as nearly all the war supplies of the South were made 
in Atlanta's mills and foundries, which Sherman destroyed. 

Thinking to draw Sherman out of Georgia, Hood in- 
vaded Tennessee, but Sherman refused to leave. In No- 
vember, Sherman began his march across Georgia, destroy- 
ing railroads and supplies, and laying waste the whole 



39 

country, for a month. In December. 1864, he captured 

Savannah. In 1865^ he marched northward into South 

Carolina, and in February seized Columbia, its capital. 

Soon after the city was burned. 

Note. — The city was not burned by Sherman's orders. Rhodes 
says it -was set on fire by some drunken soldiers, negroes, and escaped 
prisoners. 

Charleston was then evacuated by the Confederates and 
seized by the Union forces. Sherman continued his march 
into North Carolina, and defeated Johnston at Bentonville 
in eastern North Carolina (March, 1865). About a month 
later, on learning of Lee's surrender, Johnston likewise sur- 
rendered, near Raleigh, North Carolina. 

The effect of Sherman's campaign was to destroy the re- 
sources of the South, and to conquer the Southern forces 
there. 

Note 1. — After capturing Savannah, Sherman sent this message to 
Lincoln: 

•'Savannah, Georgia, Dec. 22, 1864. 
*'To Ms Excellency, President Lincoln, JVashington, D. C: 

"I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the City of Savannah, 
with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition; also 
about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton. 

"W. T. Sherman, Major-General** 

The message, sent by boat to Fort Monroe, reached Lincoln on 
Christmas Eve. His reply was, ''Many, many thanks." 

Sherman's march from Atlanta to Savannah took thirty-two days. 
He estimated the damage done to the State of Georgia at one hun- 
dred millions of dollars. 

Note 2. — In 1864, after Hood left Georgia, he advanced against 
Nashville, Tennessee, where he besieged General Thomas for two 
weeks. Thomas then attacked him and after a two days' battle (De- 
cember, 1864), defeated and destroyed Hood's army. 

4. Coast Operations of 1864. 

(a) In August, 1864, Admiral Farragut led his fleet 
past the terrible fire of the forts defending Mobile in south- 
western Alabama. He compelled the surrender of the 



40 

gunboats there and the iron-plated ram ''Tennessee," com- 
manded by Commodore Franklin Buchanan, and succeeded 
in closing this important port to the blockade runners. 

Note. — Farragut had a powerful fleet of wooden ships, with four 
iron-clad monitors. He fastened himself to the mast of his flagship, 
the ' ' Hartford, ' ' entering the bay at dawn, fighting ' ' one of the 
most thrilling naval battles ever fought" His land troops were not 
enough to occupy the city, the Confederates holding it till the fol- 
lowing April. 

(b) In 1864, the "Alabama" was sunk by the ''Kear- 
sarge.'* (See 1862.) 

I. 1865. The Ending of the War. 

Late in 1864, Fort Fisher, which defended the harbor 
of Wilmington, North Carolina, was attacked unsuccess- 
fully by the Union army and navy. In January, 1865, 
Commodore Porter, assisted by General Terry's army, cap- 
tured the fort, and Wilmington, the last Confederate port, 
was closed. 

2. The siege of Petersburg had begun in June, 1864. 
On April 1, 1865, Sheridan, after a severe battle, drove Lee 
from Five Forks, eleven miles from Petersburg. Lee saw 
he could not hold Richmond much longer. The next day, 
Grant made an attack along the whole line in front of 
Petersburg, and carried the works. That night the Con- 
federate government and army evacuated Petersburg and 
Richmond; and on April 3, 1865, the Union troops entered 
them, after their long siege. 

3. Lee hoped to be able to join Johnston in North 
Carolina, and continue the war. Grant, however, pursued 
and overtook him ; and Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, at 
Appomattox Court House, a village in southern Virginia. 

Note 1. — Grant at Appomattox proved himself generous and mag- 
nanimous. When the Union lines began to fire a salute of a hundred 



41 

guns in honor of the surrender, Grant forbade it, saying, ''The Con- 
federates are now our prisoners, and we do not want to exult over 
their downfall. '' Confederate officers and men were allowed to return 
home on giving their parole not to take up arms again during the 

ar 

Note 2. — Two famous Confederate prisons were Libby Prison, an 
old tobacco warehouse at Richmond, Virginia, and that at Anderson- 
ville, Georgia, Over ] 2,000 Union prisoners died in the Andersonville 
prison during 1864-65. ' ' Insufficiently nourished, exposed by day to 
the fierce Southern sun, by night to dews, drenched with torrential 
rains, languishing amidst filth and stench, breathing polluted air," 
a large number of the Union prisoners succumbed to the horrors of 
this prison. Wirz, its superintendent, after a trial by a United States 
commission in 1865, was executed. 

Note 3. — Counting the deaths from battle and disease, about three 
hundred and sixty thousand men died for the Union. The Confed- 
erate loss was slightly less. 

On May 1, 1865, there were 1,052,038 men in the Union army. 
These were gradually mustered out, 800,000 men being changed from 
' ' soldiers to citizens ' ' within six months of that day ; by the follow- 
ing November, the Union army had practically been disbanded. It 
was really a remarkable thing to send this great body of soldiers 
so quietly back to the peaceful occupations of civil life. 



(a) Outline of Blockade Events. 

The battle of the ''Monitor" and the "Merrimac" 
(1862), the capture of New Orleans (1862), the capture of 
coast cities (1862), the battle of Mobile Bay (1864), the 
capture of Savannah (1864), the capture of Charleston 
(1865), the capture of Wilmington (1865). 

(b) Outline of Events Connected with the 
Opening of the Mississippi. 

The capture of Fort Henry (1862), the capture of Fort 
Donelson (1862), the battle of Shiloh (1862), the capture 
of Island No. 10 (1862), the capture of Memphis (1862), 
the capture of New Orleans (1862), the capture of Vicks- 
burg (1863), the capture of Port Hudson (1863). 



42 

(c) Outline of Events Connected with the 
Capture of Richmond. 

The battle of Bull Run (1861), McClellan's Peninsular 
campaign (1862), the second battle of Bull Run (1862), 
Grant's campaign in 1864-65. 

The Result of the Rebellion. 

The two great results of the Civil War were the aboli- 
tion of slavery and the establishment of the supremacy of 
the National government. The doctrine of State rights 
could no longer be held, and the Constitution became the 
supreme law of the land. 

The Assassination of Lincoln. 

On April 14, 1865, Lincoln, at a performance in Ford*s 
Theatre, Washington, was shot by an actor, John Wilkes 
Booth, dying in a few hours. Lincoln had been reelected 
in 1864, and had just begun his second term. His death de- 
prived the North and the South of a wise, just, and gen- 
erous leader. 

Booth belonged to a band of nine conspirators, one of 
whom made an unsuccessful attempt to kill Mr. Seward. 
Booth escaped, but was found after a few days in a barn, 
in Virginia ; he was shot, after refusing to surrender. Three 
of the conspirators were hanged, together with Mrs. Mary 
E. Surratt, at whose house the plot was made. 

Note. — Booth ''stole into the box behind the President, and shot 
him in the head.'' After firing the shot he shouted, "Sic semper 
tyrannis! " (''Thus be it ever to tyrants"), and jumped to the stage. 
During his leap, his spur caught in the flag draping the President's 
box, and his leg was broken. He, however, escaped, reached his horse, 
and fled. He was shot on April 25th. 

Lincoln's body lay in state for five days in Washington and was 
then taken to Springfield by the route used in February, 1861. Every- 



43 

where the greatest reverence was shown. In Philadelphia 100,000 
people escorted the body to Independence Hail. 

Johnson's Administration (1865=69). 

1. Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, elected vice-president 
by the Republican party in 1864, became president at 
Lincoln's death, serving until 1869. Johnson was a South- 
ern Democrat, but was opposed to the Confederates during 
the war. 

Note. — Andrew Johnson was born in North Carolina. . . . He 
never went to school, and when ten years old was apprenticed to a 
tailor. When eighteen, he went to Tennessee, where he married and 
was taught to read and write by his wife. He was a man of ability. — 
McMa&tcr. 

2. In January, 1865, Congress had passed the Thir= 
teenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. 
This abolished slavery throughout the United States, be- 
coming a part of the Constitution in December, 1865, when 
ratified by three-fourths of the States. 

3. The great question of Johnson's administration was 
reconstruction. By reconstruction we mean readmitting 
the seceded States to the Union, and reorganizing their 
government. 

While Congress was not in session, Johnson issued a proc- 
lamation of pardon to the people of the seceded States, if 
they agreed to obey the Constitution. When conventions in 
the various seceded States ratified the Thirteenth Amend- 
ment, and repealed the secession ordinances, Johnson de- 
clared that these States were once more members of the 
Union, and entitled to send representatives and senators 
to Congress. 

When Congress assembled in December, 1865, it ignored 
Johnson's reconstruction work, and refused to admit the 
senators and representatives from the seceded States. It 



44 

enacted the Fourteenth Amendment in June, 1866, which 
forbade any State to deprive any citizen of his rights, thus 
protecting the f reedman ; this amendment also forbade the 
Federal and State governments to pay any part of the 
Confederate debt or to pay any claim for the freed slaves. 

Tennessee had been admitted in 1866, after ratifying 
the Fourteenth Amendment, but the other ten seceded 
States rejected it. Congress in 1867 passed a Reconstruc- 
tion Act. This provided that the ten States not yet ad- 
mitted should be divided into five military districts, each 
under the control of a military governor and an army. 
This government was to continue until the State adopted 
a constitution forbidding slavery and until its Legislature 
ratified the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1868, six States 
complied, and were readmitted ; in 1870, Virginia, Mis- 
sissippi, and Texas ratified the Fourteenth and the Fif- 
teenth Amendment, and were readmitted; Georgia was 
readmitted in January, 1871. 

Note. — The Fourteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress in 
June, 1866. It was ratified by the requisite number of States in 1868. 

4. In Johnson's administration (1867), by the efforts of 
William Seward, Secretary of State, Alaska was purchased 
from Russia for a little over seven million dollars. This 
region, rich in gold, timber, fur, and fish, lies in the north- 
western part of North America. 

5. The Atlantic Cable was laid successfully in 1866. 
(See Buchanan's administration.) 

Note 1. — When Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, forbid- 
ding the President to remove certain office holders without the Sen- 
ate's consent, Johnson in defiance removed Edwin Stanton, Secretary 
of War. For this the President was impeached. The Senate tried 
him, but lacked one vote of convicting him. 

Note 2, — Thaddeus Stevens, from 1865, was the unquestioned 
leader of the House of Eepresentatives. By his plan, the ten States 



45 

not yet readmitted were divided into five military districts to be 
ruled by military power until they were readmitted. He was John- 
son 's great enemy, and he was chairman of the committee that recom- 
mended Johnson's impeachment. Stevens was the negro's great 
friend. To the end of his days he dominated Congress and his party 
throughout the nation. 

Note 3. — In 1861, Mexico's foreign debt was about $100,000,000, 
but the treasury was bankrupt. The government under President 
Juarez decided that it would pay no foreign debt for two years. In 
1862, France, England, and Spain sent a fleet to collect the custom 
duties in Vera Cruz in order to meet their claim. Mexico made an 
arrangement with England and Spain, and they withdrew their ves- 
sels, but France, aiming at the setting up of a monarchy in Mexico, 
refused to withdraw. The French conquered the country in 1863, and 
invited Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, to become emperor. He 
accepted the invitation, and the French troops remained to support 
his rule. This violated the Monroe Doctrine; but the United States, 
busy with the Civil War, could do nothing. When the war ended, 
the United States demanded of Emperor Napoleon that the French 
army should be withdrawn from Mexico, and enforced its demand by 
sending General Sheridan with 50,000 troops to the Mexican frontier. 
The French troops were withdrawn in 1867. Maximilian remained in 
Mexico, but he was easily overpowered. He was executed in 1867, 
Mexico again becoming a republic. 

Grant's Administration (1869 — 1877). 

1. Ulysses S. Grant, of Illinois, was elected by the Re- 
publican party in 1868, serving two terms from 1869 to 
1877. 

2. Early in 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment, which 
Congress had adopted in the closing weeks of Johnson's 
administration, was ratified by the States. This Amend- 
ment secured the negroes the right to vote. 

3. The "Alabama" Claims. 

After the Civil War was ended, the United States de- 
manded payment from England for the damage done to 
American commerce by the "Alabama," the "Florida," 
and other Confederate cruisers, built or bought in England 



46 

during the Civil War. Our government considered that 
England, as a neutral, ought to have prevented these ves- 
sels from being built or equipped in her ports, and that 
her failure to do so made her responsible for the damage 
they did. Commissioners from both countries met at 
Washington; and in 1871 the treaty of Washington was 
signed, by which it was agreed to submit to arbitration 
the ''Alabama" claims and other matters in dispute with 
England. The "Alabama" claims were acted on by a 
tribunal of five arbitrators, one being appointed by the 
United States, one by England, one by Italy, one by 
Switzerland, and one by Brazil. The arbitrators met in 
G-eneva (Switzerland), in 1872, and their decision was 
that England should pay the United States $15,500,000. 

Note. — On September 2, 1872, says Ehodes, ''after a detailed de- 
liberation, a majority of the tribunal of four to one decided . . . 
to award in gross the sum of $15,500,000 to be paid in gold by Great 
Britain to the United States" for the damages done by the "Flor- 
ida," the ''Alabama," and the "Shenandoah." 

4. The Central and Union Pacific Railroad was begun 
in 1865. The Union Pacific extended from Omaha in 
Nebraska to Ogden, Utah. The Central Pacific extended 
from Sacramento to Ogden. The t^o roads were com- 
pleted and connected at Ogden in 1869. Other lines ex- 
tend eastward to the Atlantic. The effect of this railroad 
was great, leading to increased emigration to the western 
part of the United States, and the development of its 
agricultural and mineral wealth. 

Note. — Stage-coaches and prairie schooners, large wagons with 
white canvas tops, were the chief means of communication w-ith the 
West prior to the completion of the railroad. One mail route extend- 
ing from St. Louis to El Paso, Texas, and thence to San Francisco, 
covered the 2729 miles in twenty-four days. In 1860-1861 the Pony 
Express carried mail on horseback from St. Joseph to San Francisco. 
Eiders mounted on swift ponies rode three stations, finding a fresh 
horse at each, and passed on the mail to a new rider, who in turn rode 



47 

three stations. The Pony Express covered the two thousand miles 
in ten days. The ride over the trail was very dangerous because of 
the lurking robbers and bands of savage Indians. 

5. The Centennial Exhibition. 

To commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the sign- 
ing of the Declaration of Independence, an Exhibition was 
held in Philadelphia in 1876. It was of great value, as it 
showed to all the nations the resources of the United States, 
and its progress. The United States also learned much 
from the various foreign nations that exhibited. 

6. The Presidential Election of 1876. 

The Republican candidate for president in 1876 was 
Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, and the Democratic candi- 
date was Samuel J. Tilden, of New York. Both parties 
claimed the victory, as the votes of Florida, Louisiana, 
South Carolina, and Oregon were claimed by each. The 
dispute was referred to Congress to settle, and it appointed 
an Electoral Commission, consisting of five national sena- 
tors, five national representatives, and five judges of the 
United States Supreme Court. By a vote of eight to seven, 
the Commission declared Hayes elected. 

Note 1, — In the election of 1876, the Democratic candidate was 
Samuel J. Tilden, the great New York lawyer who had just aided 
in exposing and punishing the '* Tweed ring,'' a corrupt body of 
politicians in the city of New York. Both parties claimed the 
election, but the dispute centred chiefly on the electoral votes of 
South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana, which were still under 
''carpet-bag" rule. These States had established committees of men 
called ' ' Eeturning Boards, ' ' to decide which candidates were elected. 

The Democrats felt that they could hold Louisiana, where the re- 
turns showed 7,876 majority for Tilden. Here the Eeturning Board 
had four members, "insignificant in the extreme." One member of 
the Board sent to New York to offer to deliver the electoral vote 
of Louisiana to the Democratic party for a million dollars, but the 
offer was declined. The Louisiana Board threw out enough votes, 



48 

on the ground of fraud at the election, to change the State's vote 
from Tilden to Hayes. 

Intense excitement prevailed throughout the country. The matter 
was finally referred to an Electoral Commission. This Commission, 
composed of eight Eepublieans and seven Democrats, decided for the 
Hayes electors in every case by a vote of eight to seven, and Hayes 
became president. 

Note 2. — In the first years of Grant's administration, the South 
was overrun with unscrupulous adventurers who came from the North 
and who received the name of ' ' carpet-baggers, ' ' because it was said 
that they brought with them from the North nothing but their 
traveling-satchels. These carpet-baggers, by playing upon the 
prejudices of the freedmen and taking advantage of their ignorance, 
secured their votes, and in several States where the blacks outnum- 
bered the whites, gained control of the government. Where the ' ' car- 
pet-baggers" were most successful, as in Alabama, Florida, South 
Carolina, Louisiana and Mississippi, public affairs were managed in 
a most shameful and corrupt manner. In Alabama, in one county 
the clerk was a horse-thief and the sheriff a negro who could not 
read. ... In South Carolina, the corruption under ' ' carpet-bag ' ' 
rule was shocking in the extreme. In the Legislature, $200,000 was 
spent for furniture and $150,000 for printing. The most expensive 
wines, liquors, and cigars were ordered to be sent to the boarding- 
houses of the members, most of whom were negroes who had been 
slaves. Watermelons were furnished the members at the expense of 
the State, and at one session the watermelon bill was $1,800. 

From S. E. Forman 's ' ' History of the United States. ' ' 

Note 3. — To get control of the State government, a secret society 
called the Ku-Klux Klan was formed in 1868 in Tennessee, and 
spread over the South. The Klan terrorized the negroes and the 
* ' carpet-baggers. ' ' At midnight, the Klan would appear at the door 
of their victim, wrapped like ghosts in winding sheets. Many negroes 
and their white leader were whipped and banished; and in some cases, 
murder was committed. In 1871, Congress passed a bill to suppress 
the society, and by 1872 it was practically overthrown. 

Note 4. — In 1871, the great Chicago fire occurred. It raged for 
two days, destroyed 17,000 buildings, and caused two hundred and 
fifty deaths. The property loss was nearly $200,000,000, but a new 
and grander city was soon built. 

Note 5. — The unsuccessful attempt of Jay Gould and two others 
to corner the gold market resulted in the temporary panic of 1869, 
with its "Black Friday" (September 24th). The real panic came 
four years later, in 1873. It began with the failure of the great 
Philadelphia banking house of Jay Cooke & Co. ''More than ten 
thousand business failures occurred in 1873 and 1874." Millions of 
wage-earners were affected, for the panic conditions were not over 
for four or five years. 



49 

Note 6. — In the election of 1872, Grant's chief opponent was Hor- 
ace Greeley, the great editor of the New York "Tribune." He was 
hopelessly defeated by Grant. During Grant's second term, every 
branch of the government was infested with men whose only aim 
Vv^as to plunder the country. Grant was not a good judge of char- 
acter, and many of his appointments were utterly dishonest men. 

Hayes's Administration (1877 — 1881). 

I. Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, was elected by the 

Republican* party, serving from 1877 to 1881. 

Note. — When President Hayes was inaugurated on March 4, 1877, 
the Southern whites had almost shaken off the Eepublican rule, which 
had been set up under the protection of Federal soldiers at the close 
of the Civil War. In only two States, Louisiana and South Carolina, 
were Eepublican governors nominally in power, and these last "rulers 
of conquered provinces" had only a weak grip upon their offices, 
which they could not have maintained for a moment without the aid 
of Union troops stationed at their capitals. By secret societies like 
the Ku-Klux Klan, and by open intimidation, the conservative whites 
had practically recovered from the negroes, whom the Eepublicans had 
enfranchised, the political power. . . . President Hayes, on 
April 9, 1877, ordered the withdrawal of the Federal troops from 
Louisiana; a day later he withdrew the troops from the capitol at 
Columbia, South Carolina. . . . Henceforward, the negroes of the 
South were to depend upon the generosity of the whites and upon 
their own collective efforts for whatever civil and political rights 
they were permitted to enjoy. — Adapted from Beard. 

2. The Resumption of Specie Payment. 

By specie, we mean gold or silver coin. During the Civil 
War, the government did not have enough gold and silver 
to meet its expenses. It therefore issued paper money. 
At one time the credit of the Union government sank 
so low that a paper dollar was worth only thirty-five 
cents in gold. After the war, the credit of the govern- 
ment improved. In 1875, Congress passed a bill declaring 
that from January 1, 1879, paper money was to be redeem- 
able in coin at the United States Treasury for its face value. 



50 

Since that date, paper money has been worth its face value 
in gold. 

Note. — In 1877, a great railway strike occurred, beginning with 
the employees of the Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad. They were soon 
followed by those of the other lines east of the Mississippi, thus stop- 
ping trafl&c in that section of the country. Much rioting resulted, 
especially in Pittsburgh and Baltimore. National troops were called 
on to end the disorder in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Vir- 
ginia, and the strike soon ended, though not before millions of dollars' 
worth of property had been destroyed. 

3. New Applications of Electricity. 

The telephone, invented by Alexander Bell for conversa- 
tion at long distances, was shown first in 1876. In 1878, 
Charles BiTish introduced electric lighting by arc lamps, 
and in 1879, Thomas Edison invented the incandescent 
electric light. Electricity is now generally used for light- 
ing streets and large buildings, and for moving street cars. 
The first lines of street railway to use electricity in place 
of horses were in Kansas City, Baltimore and Richmond, 
in 1884 and 1885. 

4. The Growth of the Country. 

In 1880, the growth since the foundation of the govern- 
ment was showTi in the increase in the population from 
three millions to fifty millions ; in the increase in the num- 
ber of States from thirteen to thirty-eight; in the extent 
of country settled; in the number of inventions; in the 
steady increase of railroads, and the consequent develop- 
ment of the mineral, agricultural, and forest wealth of the 
nation; in the great growth of its manufactures and its 
commerce; and in the improvement and growth of the 
literature and of the educational advantages for the people. 
(Explain each fully.) 



51 

Note. — James G. Blaine, of Maine, and Eoscoe Conkling, of New 
York, were the most prominent men of the Eepublican party at this 
period. Both were senators of the United States in 1876, when 
Blaine first aimed at the presidency. In 1880, Blaine again tried to 
get the nomination, but Conkling prevented it by working for Grant 
as a candidate. Neither could carry the convention, and Garfield, a 
'Mark horse," was nominated. In 1884, Blaine secured the Repub- 
lican nomination, but was defeated by Cleveland. 

Garfield's and Arthur's Administration (i88i— 1885). 

I. James A. Garfield, of Ohio, was elected president by 
the Republican party, serving from March 4, 1881, to Sep- 
tember, 1881. Guiteau, an unsuccessful applicant for a 
government position, shot the President in July, 1881. On 
the death of Garfield in September, the vice-president, 
Chester A. Arthur, of New York, succeeded, serving from 
1881 to 1885. 



2. Civil Service Reform. 

By civil service reform, we mean improvement in the 
work, character, and mode of appointment of government 
officers. Jackson introduced the principle of "rotation in 
office," removing all government officials who were not of 
his party. This continued for many years. Congress, in- 
fluenced by the death of Garfield, passed in Arthur's ad- 
ministration (1883), a Civil Service Act. According to this, 
public examinations were to be held for certain positions, 
and no one could be appointed to these positions who had 
not passed such an examination. It also provided that 
persons could not be removed from these positions for polit- 
ical reasons only. At first, the act applied only to a few 
positions, but now it applies to nearly all the minor offices 
under the government. Thus the government secures and 
retains competent men for its service. 



52 

Cleveland's Administration (1885 — 1889). 

1. Grover Cleveland, of New York, was elected by the 
Democratic party, serving from 1885 to 1889. 

2. The Tariff Question. 

Cleveland in 1887, in his message to Congress, showed 
that the revenues of the government were much greater 
than were really needed. lie thought that Congress should 
reduce this surplus revenue by lowering the taritl*. The 
House thereupon passed the JMills Bill, which lowered the 
tariff greatly. The Senate voted against the bill, and it 
therefore failed to become a law. 

3. The Presidential Succession Law. 

In 1886, after the death of Vice-President Hendricks. 
Congress passed a presidential succession law. It provided 
that, in case there was no president or vice-president owing 
to death or other cause, the Secretary of State should act 
as president until the disability of the president or vice- 
president w^as removed or a president elected. If there 
was no Secretary of State, then the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury should act as president. The succession would pass in 
like manner to the Secretary of War, the Attorney-General, 
the Postmaster-General, the Secretary of the Navy, and 
the Secretary of the Interior. 

4. The Chinese Exclusion Act. 

The Chinese, who work for very low wag^es. took the 
place of American laborers in many of the Western States, 
and there was great opposition to them, especially in Cali- 
fornia. 



53 

The first Chinese Exclusion Act was passed ^in 1879, but 
President Hayes vetoed it as violating our treaty with 
China. In Arthur's administration (1882), an act was 
passed suspending the immigration of Chinese laborers for 
ten years. In Cleveland's administration (1888) another 
Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. In 1892 and 1902 
other acts were passed, continuing their exclusion. This 
has relieved the Western coast to a great extent. 

Note 1. — Japan will make no treaty excluding her subjects; as the 
United States objects strongly to cheap Japanese labor, Japan applies 
its own restrictions and issues passports to this country only to its 
students and business men. 

Note 2. — The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 provided for an 
Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate all railway traffic that 
passed through more than one State. Many of the railroads had dis- 
criminated against the small shippers by giving cheaper freight rates 
where the shipments were large. The large concerns could thus under- 
sell the others, and this forced the small concerns out of business in 
many cases. This act forbids the railway companies to make ''un- 
just discriminations " in freight rates. The Eailway Eate Act of 
1906 gives the Commission authority to say what the railroads shall 
charge for carrying freight and passengers from one State into 
another. 

Harrison's Administration (1889 — 1893). 

1. Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, was elected presi- 
dent by the Republican party, serving from 1889 to 1893. 

2. In 1890, a new tariff, called the McKinley Tariff, 

was adopted by Congress. It was drawn up by Wm.. Mc- 
Kinley, who was a member of Congress from Ohio. It was 
a tariff which aimed at protecting American products and 
manufactures. One of its ideas was to permit reciprocity 
treaties. These treaties could be made with another na- 
tion, certain of its exports being admitted free or at re- 
duced rates into the United States, if that country gave 
the same advantage to certain exports from the United 
States. 



54 

3. The famous Sherman Silver Law was passed in 1890. 
This law ordered the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase 
four and a half million ounces of silver every month in 
order to keep up the price of silver. This bill threatened 
for a time to put the national Treasury on a silver basis. 

4. In 1890, Congress passed the Sherman Anti-Trust 
Act, forbidding combinations, or trusts, that restrained 
trade. These trusts are combinations of a number of firms 
or corporations producing a certain article, in order to do 
away with all competition. The trust often secured a 
monopoly of the article by forcing smaller firms out of the 
business. Such wrongs the Sherman Law aims to prevent. 

Note. — Two prominent men of tMs administration were James G. 
Blaine, Harrison's Secretary of State, and Thomas B. Reed, the 
courageous, clear-sighted Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
Both men came from Maine. 

Cleveland's Second Administration (1893=97). 

I. Grover Cleveland was reelected by the Democratic 
party, serving from 1893 to 1897. 

2. The Bering Sea Controversy. 

The United States claimed the right to control the seal 
fisheries of Bering Sea, and to protect the seals from 
slaughter by the Canadians. In 1886, to stop Canadian 
depredations, the United States seized three British vessels 
in Bering Sea, but later restored the captures. After much 
controversy, a treaty with England was made in 1892, pro- 
viding for a commission of seven arbitrators to settle the 
question. The arbitrators met in the spring of 1893 and 
decided that the United States did not have exclusive 
jurisdiction in Bering Sea. They agreed on certain meas- 
ures, however, for the protection of the seal. 



55 

3. In 1893, President Cleveland called an extra session 
of Congress and forced it to repeal the Sherman Silver 
Law. By this means he saved the currency system and 
made it possible to adopt the gold standard. 

4. Cleveland's efforts did not prevent the disastrous 
panic of 1893 which had been gathering for many months. 
In the autumn of that year hundreds of thousands of people 
were out of work. It was an unwise time to revise the 
tariff, but early in 1894, Congress passed the Wilson Tariff, 
reducing many of the tariff rates. 

5. For half a century, the British government had dis- 
puted the boundary line between Venezuela and British 
Guiana. Venezuela had repeatedly offered to arbitrate the 
matter, but England refused. In 1895 Cleveland informed 
the British government that in accordance with the Monroe 
Doctrine, the United States must insist on arbitration. 
When England refused, he asked Congress to authorize a 
commission to determine the rightful boundary. War with 
England seemed possible for a time, but the British govern- 
ment settled the difficulty by submitting the boundary dis- 
pute to arbitration. 

Note. — Another example of Cleveland's courage was seen in his 
intervention in the strike of the employees of the Pullman Car Com- 
pany of Chicago. As the governor cf Illinois made no effort to quell 
the disorder in the tltv, Cleveland sent national troops to put down 
the riot on the ground that the rioters interfered with the mails and 
with interstate commerce. This strike occurred in May, 1894. 

McKinley's Administration (1897 — 1901). 

I. William McKinley, of Ohio, was elected hy the Re- 
publican party, serving from 1897 to 1901 In 1900 he was 
reelected. 



56 



2. Immediately after McKinley's inauguration, Con- 
gress revised the tariff, passing the Dingley Law in 1897. 
This was a high protective tariff, and continued in effect 
until 1909. 



3. The Annexation of Hawaii. 

The Hawaiian Islands are a group in the Pacific Ocean, 
southwest of the United States. At one time the Hawaiian 
Islands were a kingdom with a native king. In 1893, after 
a revolution, the queen was deposed. The islanders desired 
to be annexed to the United States; and finally, in 1898, 
Congress passed a bill annexing the group. 

4. The War with Spain. 

Cause:— Cuba had been in revolt against Spain for a 
number of years. In McKinley's first term, General Wey- 
ler, the Spanish governor-general of Cuba, had waged 
the war with such cruelty that the indignation of the United 
States was aroused. The battleship "Maine/* sent to 
Havana to protect Americans there, was blown up with the 
loss of two hundred and sixty-four of her crew, February 
15, 1898. This aroused the indignation of the whole na- 
tion. Congress ordered Spain to remove her forces from 
Cuba, and declared the island independent. As Spain re- 
fused her assent to this, war resulted, beginning April 
21, 1898. 

Note. — The commission appointed by the United States to inves- 
tigate the destruction of the ''Maine" reported that it had been 
destroyed by the explosion of a submarine mine, but ''that no evi- 
dence had been obtained fixing the responsibility for the destruction 
of the vessel." 

The Spanish commission of inquiry "reported that the destruction 
of the vessel was due to some interior cause." 



57 

I. Operations in the East. 

(a) The Battle of Manila Bay. 

Commodore Dewey, leaving Hong Kong, sailed to Manila 
Bay, an arm of the China Sea, in the southwestern part of 
Luzon. He utterly destroyed the Spanish fleet under Ad- 
miral Montojo there, without any great injury to his own 
men or vessels, on May 1, 1898. The ''Olympia" was 
Dewey's flagship. 

(b) The Capture of Manila. 

General Merritt was sent from the United States with 
an army to Manila, and after a short siege, the city was 
taken from the Spanish by a combined attack of the army 
and navy, in August, 1898. 

I. Operations in or around Cuba, 
(a) The Naval Battle of Santiago. 

When the Americans learned that the Spanish fleet under 
Admiral Cervera was in Santiago harbor, in the southeast- 
ern part of Cuba, Admiral Sampson blockaded them there 
for about six weeks. On July 3d, Cervera tried to escape 
from the harbor, but the blockading fleet pursued him and 
destroyed the whole Spanish squadron, with little injury 
to the American ships or men. Commodore Schley of the 
"Brooklyn" and Captain Clark of the ''Oregon" were 
very prominent in this battle. Cervera 's flagship was the 
''Cristobal Colon". 

Note. — At the time of the destruction of the ' ' Maine, ' ' the * ' Ore 
gon" was at San Francisco. Her voyage of 14,000 miles around 
South America to join the blockading fleet was the ''swiftest long 
voyage ever made by a battleship." 



58 

(b) The Land Battle of Santiago. 

While the navy was blockading the Spanish fleet in the 
harbor of Santiago, an American army under General 
Shafter was sent against the Spanish army there, in June, 
1898. The Spanish held a strong position outside Santiago 
on San Juan Hill, and in the village of El Caney. On 
the first of July, after a severe battle, the Spanish were 
driven from these positions inside the town. Theodore 
Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders" rendered valuable ser- 
vice in the battle. After a siege of about two weeks, the 
Spanish under General Toral surrendered (July 17, 1898). 



3. The Treaty. 

The treaty was signed at Paris, in December, 1898, and 
ratified early in 1899. By it, Spain acknowledged the inde- 
pendence of Cuba, and gave Porto Rico, Guam, and the 
Philippine Islands to the United States. For the Philip- 
pines, the United States allowed Spain twenty million 
dollars. 

In this war, England showed great sympathy for the 
cause of the United States. 

Note 1. — Guam is one of the Ladrone Islands, in the Pacific Ocean, 
east of the Philippine Islands. 

The Philippine Islands are in the Pacific Ocean, southeast of China. 
Porto Eico lies in the Atlantic Ocean, southeast of the United States. 

Note 2. — The natives under the leadership of Aguinaldo, early in 
1899, began to fight the United States to gain their independence. 
There were many minor battles, in which the natives were usually de- 
feated. The capture of Aguinaldo by General Funston in March, 
1901, practically ended the war in the Philippines. 

Note 3. — In 1901, Cuba adopted a Constitution, and in 1902, 
Tomas Palma was inaugurated as its first president. The island is 
independent, but the United States has the right to intervene to pro- 
tect it or to keep order, if the Cuban government is unable to do so. 



59 

The Death of the President. 

In September, 1901, President McKinley, while attend- 
ing the Buffalo Exhibition, was shot by an anarchist named 
Czolgosz, and died a w^eek after the attack. 

Roosevelt's Administration (1901- — 1909). 

1. As vice-president under President McKinley, Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, of New York, succeeded to the presidency 
in 1901. 

2. The State of Panama revolted from Colombia and 
set up an independent republic ; and in 1904, by treaty, it 
gave the United States control of a strip of territory ten 
miles wide across the Isthmus of Panama for about ten 
million dollars. This strip is called the "Canal Zone," and 
here the United States has constructed the Panama Canal 
to connect the two oceans. This will be of great value to 
commerce, giving our eastern cities a much shorter route 
to the Pacific for their exports. 

The canal was officially opened on January 1, 1915. 

Note. — The United States by the treaty of 1904 agreed to pay 
Panama ten million dollars immediately and two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars annually, beginning nine years after the date of 
the ratification of the treaty. 

The Hay-Pauncefote treaty of 1901 between England and the 
United States was drawn up by Secretary of State Hay and Lord 
Pauncefote, It made the United States the sole owner of the Panama 
Canal and secured its neutrality in time of war. 

3. When gold was discovered in the Klondike region in 
1896, the dispute regarding the boundary between Alaska 
and Canada was renewed. The matter was settled by 
arbitration in 1903, the committee of six arbitrators meet- 



60 

ing in London. The disputed land was divided, but the 
ports were given to the United States. 

Note. — The Klondike region is entirely in Canada. 

4. The Irrigation Act of 1902 is intended to make the 
arid public lands in the West fit for occupation, by irri- 
gating them at government expense, the cost being later 
repaid by the sale of the land. Large reservoirs are built 
to store the water, which is led by canals to the lands re- 
quiring it. 

Note. — Since the work began, eight new towns with about ten 
thousand people have been built on these watered lands (1907). 

5. By the presidential election of 1904, Roosevelt, the 
Republican candidate, Avas re-elected, and began his second 
term on March 4, 1905. 

6. The Pure Food Act was passed in 1906 to prevent 
adulteration of food, drugs, medicines, and liquors. All 
such articles intended for interstate commerce must be in- 
spected by United States officials and correctly labeled. 

The law relating to meat inspection requires canned and 
fresh meats used in interstate or foreign commerce to be 
inspected by United States officials and marked "inspected 
and passed." 

Note. — In the summer of 1902, the anthracite coal miners of Penn- 
sylvania struck, involving 147,000 workmen. This closed the mines 
for more than five months, and the coal famine affected all classes 
and occupations. President Eoosevelt asked the two sides to arbi- 
trate the matter; and on their agreement to do so, he appointed a 
committee of seven men to investigate the matter. This ended the 
strike, the men returning to work late in October. 

Taft's Administration (1909 — 1913). 

I. William H. Taft, of Ohio, was elected by the Repub- 
lican party in 1908. 



61 

2. The tariff was revised in Taft's administration. The 
Payne Tariff, adopted in 1909, was a high protective tariff. 

3. In 1910, Congress passed a bill to permit the forma- 
tion of Arizona and New Mexico as separate States. These 
two Territories became States in 1912. 

4. The Postal Savings-Bank Law was passed in 1910. 
Under the law, savings-banks have been established in cer- 
tain post-offices, deposits of from one to five hundred dollars 
being received from any person over ten years of age. 
Interest at two per cent, per annum is paid. 

5. The Parcel-post Law, passed in 1912, admitted to the 
mail as fourth-class matter farm and factory produce, the 
rate varying according to the weight and the distance. 
This law will be a decided aid to business, as it prevents 
the express companies' exclusive control of the transmis- 
sion of packages. 

Note. — Later regulations permitted books to be sent by parcel-post 
and raised the weight limit, which in January, 1914, was fifty pounds 
for certain distances. 

6. A new Cabinet position was created by Congress, in 
1913, at the close of Taft's administration. This new De- 
partment of Labor makes the president's cabinet consist of 
ten members. 

Note 1. — During this administration remarkable progress was made 
with the aeroplane. The first successful flight was made by Wilbur 
Wright in 1903, his biplane moving a distance of eight hundred and 
fifty-two feet. In May, 1910, Glenn Curtiss with a biplane travelled 
from Albany to New York City, one hundred and thirty-seven miles, 
in one hundred and fifty-two minutes. In June, 1910, Charles K. 
Hamilton flew from New York to Philadelphia and back, a distance 
of one hundred and seventy-five miles. To fly this distance, the 
biplane was in motion three hours and thirty-four minutes. 

Note 2. — Edison's latest invention, exhibited in 1913, is the kineto- 
phone, a combination of two of his other inventions, the phonograph 
and the cinematograph, or motion-picture machine. This new inven- 



62 

tion makes talking pictures possible, the syncliroiiizer giving abso- 
lute time agreement between the sounds of the phonograph under trjw 
stage and the views of the motion-picture machine in the secona 
balcony, more than a hundred feet distant. 

Note 3. — Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian, after much study succeeded 
in 1899 in communicating by wireless telegraphy between France and 
England, across the English Channel. In 1901, he succeeded in com- 
municating across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1906, he invented a new 
system of wireless telegraphy, and in 1907 he established wireless 
telegraph service between England and America, across the Atlantic. 
His system is in use on all large ships; and by it, ships can be 
brought into communication with each other, securing relief in emer- 
gencies. By 1914, the entire globe was encircled with a series of 
wireless stations. A ten-word message can be sent around the earth 
in about three minutes. ^ 

Wilson's Administration (1913 — ). 

1. Woodrow Wilson, of Virginia, was elected by the 
Democratic party in 1912. 

2. The tariff was again revised in Wilson's administra- 
tion. The Underwood tariff, passed in 1913, was a tariff 
for revenue only, and not a protective tariff. It placed many 
articles on the free list and greatly reduced the rate on 
many others. 

3. The Underwood tariff greatly reduced the revenues o^f 
the government. To make up this deficit, a tax on incomes 
was passed, the rate of tax increasing according to the in- 
come. Incomes below a certain figure are exempt from this 
tax. 

Note 1. — For single persons, any income above $3,000 is to be 
taxed. 

Note 2. — The Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified 
in the closing part of Taft's administration, in 1913, gave Congress 
the power ' ' to lay and collect taxes on incomes. ' ' 

The Seventeenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, requires national 
senators to be elected by the people, changing the original provision 
of the Constitution that senators of the United States were to be 
elected by the State Legislatures. 

Note 3. — The following have female suffrage: Wyoming (1869), 
Colorado (1893), Idaho (1896), Utah (1896), Washington, 1910), 



63 

California (1911), Arizona (3912), Kansas (1912), Oregon (1912), 
Alaska (1913), Illinois (1913), Montana (1914), and Nevada (1914). 
Illinois has not full female suffrage, as the women of that State vote 
only for elective city otticers, for certain county officers, and for 
presidential electors. 

4. In 1913, Congress passed the Owen-Glass currency 
bill. The object of this law is to prevent business panics 
by making money pass easily to sections of the country 
where business requires it. Twelve Federal reserve-banks 
have been established, one in each of twelve cities selected 
by the government. Each national bank in the United 
States must keep at least half of its reserves in the reserve- 
bank of its region. A bank needing money may go to the 
regional bank and receive fifty per cent, of the face value 
of the stocks and other securities it deposits there. 

The twelve Federal banks are controlled by a Federal 
Reserve Board, which holds its sessions in Washington ; its 
seven members are appointed by the president of the United 
States. 

The Condition of the Country in 1913. 

(a) The present number of States is forty-eight. 

Note 1. — In 1907, Oklahoma and Indian Territory were admitted 
as the State of Oklahoma. Arizona and New Mexico became States 
in 1912. 

Note 2. — The territories are Hawaii and Alaska. The colonial 
possessions are Porto Eico, Philippine Islands, Tutuila (in the 
Samoan Group), Guam, and Wake Island. 

Note 3. — Hawaii is an organized Territory. Every organized Ter- 
ritorial government has three departments, — legislative, executive, 
judicial. The executive department consists of a governor appointed 
by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate; 
the legislative department consists of a Legislature of two houses, 
elected by the voters of the Territory; the judicial department con- 
sists of judges appointed by the president with the consent of the 
Senate. Each organized Territory sends a delegate to the national 
House of Eepresentatives to represent the Territory there; he of 
course has no vote in Congress. 



64 

Alaska has a governor and judges appointed by the president. It 
sends a delegate to Congress, this delegate being elected by the voters. 

Alaska has a Legislature of one house. 

Porto Rico has a governor appointed by the president. Its Legis 
lature consists of two houses, the lower house being elected by the 
people and the upper house being appointed by the president. A 
commissioner represents it in Congress. 

The Philippine Islands have a governor and a commission ap- 
pointed by the president. The lower legislative body is elected by 
the people. There are two commissioners to represent the Philippines 
at Washington. 

(b) The population of continental United States by the 
census of 1910 (thirteenth census) was about ninety-one 
millions. 

(c) There has been a great increase in manufacturing 
since the Civil War. Numerous American inventions and 
the use of modern machinery have greatly aided this in- 
crease. 

The South has begun to manufacture extensively, 
although its main resource is still agriculture. 

The use of modern machinery has greatly advanced agri- 
culture, just as increased railroads have added to the value 
of the agricultural products by finding markets for them. 
Foreign and domestic commerce have increased enormously. 
Our chief exports are cotton, iron, steel, beef, wheat, flour, 
petroleum, and manufactured articles, and the trade ex- 
tends over the world. To-day, the United States is one of 
the leading manufacturing and commercial nations of the 
world. 

(d) The progress in literature has been marked. News- 
papers and books have bacome extremely cheap. They are 
of great value in educating the people and in making them 
intelligent, and fit to govern themselves. 



65 



There has been a great advance in the character of the 
education of the country. The colonial schools were few, 
and were without the present educational facilities. 

The improved condition of the schools has been brought 
about only by repeated efforts. All the States now have 
creditable public schools, on which great sums of money 
are spent. The credit of Pennsylvania's public schools is 
due first, to Governor Wolf, who induced the Legislature 
to establish a system of free public schools in 1834 ; and sec- 
ondly to Thaddeus Stevens, who, by his eloquence, pre- 
vented the repeal of that law in 1835. 

Outline of Territory Acquired. 

Note. — Describe fully, giving the boundary, and telling how, when 
and from whom acquired. 

Louisiana (1803), Florida (1819), Texas (1845), Oregon 
(1846), the Mexican Cession (1848), the Gadsden Purchase 
(1853), Alaska (1867), the Hawaiian Islands (1898), the 
Philippine Islands, Guam, Porto Rico (1899). 

Note 1. — The area of the Louisiana Purchase was over eighteen 
times the size of Pennsylvania; Florida was one and a half times 
Pennsylvania; Texas was over eight and a half times Pennsylvania; 
the Oregon country was about six times Pennsylvania; the Mexican 
Cession was nearly twelve times Pennsylvania; the Gadsden Purchase 
was about the size of Pennsylvania; Alaska is over thirteen times 
Pennsylvania ; the Hawaiian Islands are about one-seventh the size of 
Pennsylvania; the Philippine Islands are two and a half times Penn- 
sylvania; and Porto Eico is about one-twelfth the size of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Note 2. — The northwestern boundary required several treaties with 
England to settle. The treaty of 1818 made the boundary line the 
49th parallel from the Lake of the Woods (between Minnesota and 
Canada) to the Rocky Mountains. This treaty left the disputed 
Oregon country open to the ''subjects of the two powers" for ten 
years. In 1827 this arrangement was renewed. The treaty of 1846 
made the 49th parallel the boundary line to Vancouver Island, where 
the Strait of Juan de Fuca became the boundary line. 



66 



Tariff Outline. 



Hamilton's tariff measure, the high protective tariff of 
1828, the Nullification troubles of 1832, the ''Compromise 
Tariff" of 1833, the Walker tariff of 1846, the Morrill tariff 
of 1861, Cleveland's tariff ideas, the McKinley Tariff of 
1890, the Wilson Tariff of 1894, the Dingley Tariff of 1897, 
the Payne Tariff of 1909, the Underwood Tariff of 1913. 

Outline of the Slavery Question. 

Introduction at Jamestown in 1619, the Ordinance of 
1787, the effect of the cotton-gin (1793), the Missouri Com- 
promise (1820), the rise of the Abolitionists (1831), the 
annexation of Texas (1845), the Wilmot Proviso (1846), 
the ''Omnibus Bill" (1850), the Kansas-Nebraska Act 
(1854), the Dred Scott Decision (1857), John Brown's Raid 
(1859), the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), the Thir- 
teenth Amendment (1865). 

Outline of Inventions. 

Note. — Give the use, the name of the inventor, the date of the in- 
vention (by administration), and the effect of each. 

The cotton-gin (1793), the steamboat (1807), McCor- 
mick's reaping-machine (1834), the screw propeller (1836), 
the telegraph (in operation 1844), the sewing-machine 
(1846), the rotary printing-press (1846), the Atlantic cable 
(1858- '66), the "Monitor" (1862), the telephone (1876). 
the electric light (1878-79). 

Outline of Financial Affairs. 

Finances during the Revolution, Hamilton's measures, 
the United States Bank (in Washington's and Jackson's 
administration), the panic of Van Bur en's administra- 



67 

tion, the issue of paper money in Lincoln's administration, 
the resumption of specie payment in Hayes's administra- 
tion. 

Outline of Modes of Transportation. 

Colonial travel, Fulton's steamboat (1807), the National 
Road to the West (Monroe's administration), the Erie 
Canal, Railroads (John Quincy Adams's, Jackson's, and 
Grant's administration), the use of electricity, the auto- 
mobile. 



Note- -What little travel there was in early days was by horse or 
coach, along bad roads. Thus in 1766, a line of stage-coaches was 
begun that made the journey between New York and Philadelphia 
(about ninety miles) in two days. 



Some Political Parties of the United States. 

Note 1. — At the beginning of the government there existed two par- 
ties. One was the Federalist, led by Washington and Hamilton. 
These believed in a strong central government. George Washington 
and John Adams were the two Federalist presidents. The opposing 
party was the Anti-Federalists, who opposed the Constitution. It 
soon died out. 

Under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson a new party was formed, 
which he called the Republican party, but it soon took the name of 
the Deiiiocratic-Republican party. This party believed in the doctrine 
of State rights. Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were elected by 
this party. John Quincy Adams was elected president by the House 
of H;e[)resentatives, .-^s none of the eandidares had a majority of the 
electoral votes. After 1832, this party was known simply as the 
Democratic party. Andrew Jackson was the leader of the Democrats, 
and they believed in State rights and opposed a protective tariff. 
This party exists to-day. The presidents elected by this partv were 
Jackson, Van Buren, Polk, Pierce, Buchanan, Cleveland, and Wilson. 

The Whig party was powerful between 1836 and 1850. The Whigs 
believed in a protective tariff, in a strong central government, and 
opposed the doctrine of State rights. William Harrison and Zachary 
Taylor were elected Whig presidents, and each waa succeeded by a 
Whig vice-president. 



68 

The Republican party was formed in 1S54. It favored a protective 
tariff and a strong central government; it opposed the extension of 
slavery. Lincoln was the first president elected by the Republicans. 
The other presidents elected by the Republicans were Johnson, Grant, 
Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Harrison, McKinley,, Roosevelt, and Tart. 

Note 2. — Up to the present time (1911) twenty-two different men 
have been elected to the office of president of the United States. Five 
of these have died in office, and have been succeeded by their re- 
spective vice-presidents. Only one of the latter, Theodore Roosevelt, 
was afterward elected to the presidency. Thus the great office has 
been held by twenty- six different men. 

Of these twenty-six men, fourteen had a college education. Har- 
vard claims three — John Adams, his sun John t^umcy Adams, and 
Theodore Roosevelt. William and Mary College, in Virginia, had 
Thomas Jefferson and John Tyler. Wo other college has had more 
than one of its alumni in the White House. Yale appears in the list 
now for the first time in the person of Mr. Taft. Bowdoin was rep- 
resented by Franklin Pierce, Williams by James A. Garfield, Union 
by Chester a. Arthur, ' Princeton by James Madison, Dickinson by 
James Buchanan, the University of iS'orth Carolina by James K. Polk, 
Kenyon by Rutherford B. Hayes, Miami by Benjamin Harrison. The 
Military Academy at West Point graduated Grant, while Monroe, W. 
H. Harrison and McKinley entered college but did not graduate. 

Andrew Jackson had almost no formal schooling; Abraham Lin- 
coln had little or none because of poverty; Grover Cleveland had lit- 
tle early education, but became a man of wide knowledge and in- 
fluence; Martin Van Buren had no early training but that of the 
village school; Millard Fillmore was a clerk in a store. 

Of the twenty-six presidents, nineteen were lawyers. 

It should be said that not one of the twenty-six presidents was 
ever a sluggard. Those of college training were industrious and 
ambitious students, and those who had few early advantages were 
tireless in their labor to overcome their disabilities. Each of them 
made the very utmost of what he had. — Abridged from H. P. Judson. 












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